


save your tears (for another day)

by cxlesstial



Series: crossover! ;) [1]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: 2012 kids are so out of it um, 2018 kids just watching like... DAMN YALL GOOD, Angst with a Happy Ending, Conflict, Crossover, Dialogue Heavy, Fighting, Gen, Heavy Angst, Internal Conflict, Portals, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma, Violence, mentions of past trauma, not GRAPHIC but raph and leo beat eachother up, the dialogue is actually so funny someone should fr hire me as a comedian, whos suprised lmfao, yeah not surpised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27680513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxlesstial/pseuds/cxlesstial
Summary: “Oh my god?” Leo asks, staring at the weird, other fucking mutant turtles in the room, accompanied by two of the strangest humans Raph thinks he’s ever seen. “Are you guys - are you guys us?”-orrrr a crossover btwn 2012 and 2018 :)
Series: crossover! ;) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130978
Comments: 175
Kudos: 404





	1. when u pull ur weird ass counterparts into a portal lmfao

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh yeah 
> 
> for 2012 this takes place literally right after the gang kills shredder
> 
> like a couple (??) weeks after splinter's death
> 
> so obviiii they're a little fucked up 
> 
> for rise its a couple months after the season two finale! enjoy :)

“Stop.”

“You stop.”

“Oh for God’s sake - Mikey, literally, I told you to get out like ten goddamn times, why are you still in here - 

“Because I’m _bored_ ,” Mikey explains, rolling over on his stomach and shooting his slightly older brother a look that could and _would_ kill. “Plus Raph and Leo are doing their weird older-children bullshit again. It’s freaking me out.”

“You mean they’re fighting.” Donnie sighs, pushing away from his latest experiment and indulging in Mikey’s little staring game. “Again?”

“ _Again_ ,” Mikey confirms, breaking eye contact first and rolling over onto his shell. “Seriously, it’s like…” Mikey pauses, licking his lips and looking vaguely uncomfortable as the next words spill from his mouth, “S’ like ever since Sensei…” 

Donnie’s expression tightens and he looks away. “Yeah. It’s been getting worse, I know. Doesn’t really explain why _you’re_ in here, though.”

Oh, fuck. That was rude. Donnie's throat tightens and he glances back, hoping Mikey wasn't _too_ offended - 

“Do I have to spell _everything_ out for you?” Mikey snaps, sitting up on his knees, eyes narrowing. Seems like he’d had enough of Donnie’s attitude, and it takes the genius aback by the actual anger in his eyes. “See, Don, it’s different for you, we get it. You can just hide in here whenever shit gets bad! You can just - sit in here, and _ignore_ how Leo and Raph are tearing each-other apart, ‘cause that’s what you’ve always done whenever shit’s gone bad for us! So - fuck, fucking _forgive_ me for wanting that same f- _fucking_ luxury.” Mikey stands, eyes in slits and Donnie swallows even though there’s barely any moisture in his throat. “God, you’re such a dick. Dunno _why_ I thought I could hide out here. M’just gonna go _fuck off_ for a bit, since you’d really like that - wouldn’t you?” 

Wait. Wait that's not - “Mikey - hold on, _wait_ \- is that what you think I - 

But Mikey isn’t listening, turning away and stalking to the door, and Donnie’s tripping over himself trying to get up and go after him, and then - out of nowhere - 

Everything goes _pink_ and engulfs the entire room, including himself and Mikey, and - 

Donnie's voice dies in his throat as he's taken from his lab, what he can vaguely recognize as a _portal_ taking him and Mikey away.

-

“The fuck is your problem, Leo?” Raph snarls, shoving him backwards, and Leo doesn’t really want to give Raph the light of day, because for fuck’s sake he felt like literal _garbage_ and when he felt like garbage he usually watched Space Hereos, but _fuck_ , Raph was being a little -

Raph shoves him backwards again, and Leo doesn’t even know what he’s mad about - it’s not like they’ve done anything much after Leo sliced their greatest enemies’ _head_ off or anything otherworldly important - Leo suddenly feels the phantom pains of Shredder gripping his throat and shoves _back_ , catching Raph off guard. “The fuck is _my_ problem?” Leo shouts, rage clouding his features as he takes a step forward and repeats his previous movement. “The fuck is _yours_?” 

“Leo, Raph - oh, god, _again_?” Comes the slightly exasperated and very miffed voice of their youngest brother, and without hesitating Raph takes a sai from his belt and throws it in the direction of the orange-banded turtle. Mikey yelps and hits the floor, the sai flying over his head and landing in the pool of water. Mikey, unharmed, stands shakily. “The fuck, man - what did I even - 

_“_ ** _Fuck you, Mikey! Go bother - fuck, go fucking bother Donnie! Neither of us want to see your ugly ass around here, so leave us the fuck alone!"_** Raph bellows, reaching for his other sai in warning, and Mikey fortunately takes the hint and runs in the direction of Donnie’s lab, the door slamming shut behind him. Raph roars and aims for Leo’s face, the fist aimed to _hurt_ , and Leo - for the life of him, just barely manages to dodge. He’s not reluctant to raise a fist in return, though, so furiously angry and -

\- why were they angry? Why is any of this happening? Why were they even fighting? Why -

\- did it matter? Did it - oh, but it felt so _good_ , just to see that look of agitation cross Raph’s face - 

\- _that’s my brother, get it together, leo. god, what the fuck is wrong with you -_

- _he wants to hurt you, just - just, fucking, h - HURT him, hurt him back, hurt him like -_

- _hurt him like - like -_

\- _like you did to t-the_

_\- the shredder -_

_\- he deserves -_

“ ** _STOP!_** ” Leo screams, though he could barely hear past the fog in his head and didn’t know whether he was screaming it to himself or to his younger brother, or - 

“Leo, Raph - oh, my god - what are you _doing_ \- 

A feminine voice dispels that fog slightly and Leo brings his fist away from Raph, noticing for the first time that it was bloody, and - _oh_ \- Raph’s entire face is bruised - sporting what was probably going to be the nastiest black eye ever - and his own face doesn’t even feel any better, puffed and broken and _oozing_ with something, and - 

That itch is still there, still crawling through him, and he yearns to put another fist through Raph’s face, but as soon as he tries there’s pressure around his wrist and he tilts his head slightly, blinking languidly at seeing Casey forcing his fist down and away from his brother. “How many goddamn times have we told both of you to stop fucking taking your anger out on eachother, you - _fuck_ , Leo, you _both_ \- !”

“H-he fucking _started it_ ,” Leo spits blood on the pit floor, and Raph can’t move from April’s hold on him but he’s _seething_ like some kind of rabid animal, trying to get away from the ginger. He looks - _jesus_. Leo feels a laugh bubble up in his throat and lets it out into the open air, knowing he was horrifying the human and the human-passing mutant and maybe Raph but not knowing if he cared. “You look like - literal shit, ‘Phael, heh - _haha_ -

“Fuck you,” Raph mutters darkly, going limp in April’s arms. “Fucking hate your ass, forreal.”

“You an’ - _nngh_ \- you n’me both, buddy,” Leo barely manages, eye twitching. “Let me go, Casey. M’out of here.” 

“Running from your problems again, huh?” Raph taunts, jeering nastily. “Jus’ like you did after Dad died, yeah?” 

Oh, _fuck_ him.

“ _Fuck you_ \- Casey, you asshole, _gerrofme_ , _I’m going to fucking murder him_ ,” Leo decides sagely, struggling in his friend’s iron-clad grip. “You were up on that fucking building, _you coulda saved him, but no! No you just sat there and fucking watched while he fucking plunged his swords through his goddamn chest -_

The dim lights in the lair flicker on and off rapidly, and Raph takes the brief distraction as an opportunity to dislodge from April and launch himself towards Leo, who’s still babbling manically. “ ** _IT’S YOUR FAULT SPLINTER IS DEAD I WISH YOU WERE THE ONE STANDING IN HIS PLACE -_ **

Leo doesn’t know whether he’s relieved or not when the portal opens up underneath him and sends him spiraling downwards, Raph sailing after him, screaming with his one remaining sai outstretched toward his brother’s heart. 

-

Leon chuckles, draped over his oldest brother’s shell, lazily scrolling through something on his phone. “Carry me to the lab, Raphie?” 

“Gotta get Mikey, first,” Raph snorts, looking across the living room for their youngest brother, spotting him napping on a beanbag chair, curled up in a ball. Raph points and Leo “awwes”, snapping a picture. Probably sending it to whoever was active in their massive ass groupchat that only grew bigger. “Mike, get up.”

“ _Mmmf_ ,” Mikey murmurs intelligently, and rolls over, dark green cheek placed firmly into the soft material. “Go ‘ _way_ , Raph, m’tired.”

“Dee’s got something to show us,” Raph explains patiently, bending and picking Mikey up. “I’ll let you sleep till we get there, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay,” Mikey agrees, exhaustion coating his voice, and Raph makes his way across their home toward Donnie’s lab, not minding the comforting weight that both Mikey and Leo collectively offered. 

“Hey, Dee?” Raph asks as they reach the room, feet dragging slightly as he peeks into their genius brother’s lab. “You in here?”

“Over here,” Donnie calls, and Raph follows his brother’s voice, leaning a tad bit backwards to let Leo slip off, and setting Mikey down in an abandoned desk chair gently. “Hey, guys,” Donnie says softly, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “M’sorry I called you all down here so late.”

“S’fine, Dee. Stop apologizing, m’not _that_ tired,” Mikey snorts, though he has to talk through another yawn and his brothers don’t believe him at all. “Shit. Really shouldn’t a’ spent all last night watchin’ that gameplay, huh?”

“We’ll get you a good sleeping schedule one of these days, Mike. N’ your weird ass obsession with ‘Lou Jitsu: The Game’ gameplay, too. I hope,” Raph sympathizes.

“Shut up,” Mikey groans while the twins laugh.

“‘Nyways, the reason why I’ve called you all down here is - is this,” Donnie turns, brandishing a large, blocky item hidden by a dirty old sheet. “It’s under the sheet,” Donnie reminds them. “‘S not the _sheet_ , Leo.”

“Pfft, I knew that!” Leo snorts mirthfully. “What’s under the sheet, Dee?”

“Glad you asked, dear brother and other endearing terms I would use to describe you,” Donnie says dramatically, taking a piece of the sheet in his hand. “Prepare to be amazed -

And he tears the sheet off, only to reveal -

“You brought us in here to look at a big ass doughnut,” Leo deadpans with a flat expression and an even flatter tone. 

“What? No - _‘Nardo_ , it’s a fucking portal.”

“You made a _portal_?” Mikey sits up straighter, gobsmacked. “For real?”

“Yes, for real!” Donnie nearly yells, in complete and utter exasperation.

Leo tilts his head to the side, staring at the portal intently. “No, it still looks like a doughnut. Like a rectangle doughnut.”

“Looks like a Nether-Portal from Minecraft,” Raph observes, completely serious.

Donnie throws his hands up. “Oh for the love of science - _okay_ , no, it’s not a fucking doughnut. It doesn’t even look like a -

“Yeah, you’re right. M’just super hungry. ‘Kay, continue with your not - a - doughnut explanation, Dee,” Leo wags a hand lazily, leaning against Raph.

“...thank you, oh wise and powerful,” Donnie mutters sarcastically before acknowledging his family again. “So, yeah, it’s a portal. Based, copied, and duplicated from _hours_ spent analyzing Fearless’s,” Donnie gestures towards Leo, “...sword. Luckily I was able to save my research before Shredder broke it, am I right? We’ve got a mystic portal in our possession, boys,” he finishes, looking slightly (maybe a _lot_ ) smug.

“Oooh, portal to _where_? Can we go back in time? Oh my god, what if - guys, what if we saved Gram Gram?” Mikey pipes up hopefully, previous exhaustion disappearing in the wake of this new technology thrust upon them.

They freeze at that, grief reentering their tranquil atmosphere, and it suddenly _burns_.

It’s been months since Leo’s been made leader. Months since they defeated Shredder. Months since they had to move to a new lair, because the one they’d grown up in was destroyed and fucking _gone_. Obliterated. Nothing left.

Months, maybe most importantly, since they lost _her_.

Sometimes it was easy to look back on it - the battle, them _winning_ , everything. Other days it was just too goddamn hard.

“Mikey, you know we can’t,” Leo starts, completely serious for once, and Raph’s heart must have clenched fifty times harder at what had to be unshed tears flowing behind those eyes. Swallowing thickly, Leo glances away until he finds it safe enough to look back. “Can’t mess with the past, ‘Angelo. Plus - we won. We won ‘ _cause_ of what she did for us. If we saved her now - 

“It’d be a different outcome, yeah, I know,” Mikey concedes, shoulders slumping miserably. “Just - miss her, s’all.”

Donnie reaches out and rubs Mikey’s shoulder comfortingly, and Mikey leans into the touch. “If it makes you feel any better, it’s not that kind of portal,” Donnie murmurs sadly.

“What kind of portal is it then, Dee?” Raph asks curiously.

“I dunno,” Donnie shrugs. “With Leo’s flaky mystic tech - 

“ - _hey_ ,”

“ - I’m at a complete loss for what can happen,” Donnie continues over the interruption. “That’s why I was - I was _hoping_ you guys would want to try it out with me.”

His brothers are taken aback, but recover quickly. “If we lose power like we did after your weird ass exploding microwave incident -

“Oh my _god_ , let it go?” Donnie throws his hands up again while Leo and Mikey dissolve into giggles. It gets rid of that awful atmosphere, though, so Raph just sticks his tongue out in retaliation. “I _promise_ that it’s not gonna be like that exploding microwave incident - 

“Or the time you got April fired because of that fuckin’ animatronic bear shit - 

“What is with you guys and not trusting my tech!” Donnie asks as Mikey and Leo laugh harder. He sighs. “Christ. I ask to do _one_ thing with you all - 

“Quit it, Dee...we’re in,” Leo wipes a tear away and manages to refocus on his brother. “Seriously, go ahead and do it. M’ ready to see what’s on the other side of that thing.”

“You sure?” Now it’s _Donnie_ that looks hesitant. His brothers nod.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Raph urges gently. “I’m in the mood for an adventure.”

“Right...right. Okay then,” Donnie turns and messes with his the tablet placed on his desk, then messes with his desktop computer, and - 

And several things happen at once.

The portal comes to life, a glowing, mystical pink color that looked like it belonged on Sunita’s dress - wind whips around the lab, violently, uplifting papers and other miscellaneous items that weren’t bolted down by something heavy - everyone’s shouting, but Raph can’t hear _shit_ over the pressure in his ears - and he can barely see since there’s fucking wind in his eyes but all of a sudden things start flying _out_ of the portal, one after another, maybe six (??) lumps, and Raph yells - 

“Turn it off! Donnie, turn it _off_ -

And just as quickly as it started, it ended, everyone and everything dropping to the floor due to gravity suddenly making a reappearance. Raph groans, hands on his knees and eyes squeezed while he waits for the world to _stop spinning_.

When he finally deems them safe enough to reopen, Raph adjusts his vision to - well, the whole _situation_. Donnie’s lab is utterly trashed, but everyone seemed relatively unharmed for the most part. Raph helps a shaking Mikey to his feet and - the lumps. They fucking _moved_.

They weren’t lumps! Oh god he’s actually so stupid they - they were -

“Oh my god?” Leo asks, staring at the weird, _other fucking mutant turtles_ in the room, accompanied by two of the strangest humans Raph thinks he’s ever seen. “Are you guys - are you guys _us_?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO WRITE A CROSSOVER BETWEEN THESE TWO UNIVERSES MFSLFJDKSGDGFFDJ let's just hope i can keep them in character uh
> 
> i wrote all this shit in maybe two hours so...if u see mistakes...no u don't  
> (actually tell me if u do it's so mortifying when i read over my work and see mistakes because then OTHER mfs have seen my mistakes n that's so scary to me)


	2. dot dot dot...ur telling me raph is older than leo in this universe??

Donnie peels his head off the tiled floor and glances up at the - the other - oh. Turtles.

God fucking damn it. Not _again_. 

“We did it again,” he sighs while his family makes similar noises of - agreement? Annoyance that they were dragged through yet another portal into an alternate dimension? Donnie doesn’t know, nor does he care; all he currently cares about is making things right with Mikey.

(Because the words he’d shouted at him earlier terrified the older genius a tad bit more than he’d like to admit, and Donnie doesn’t _do_ terrified. Not anymore.)

Definitely _not_ caring doesn’t stop him from rising to his feet carefully, surveying the room - Donnie guessed it was the _other_ Donnie’s lab, going by the purple aesthetic and the experiments and just - so much cool shit, everywhere, that it puts him and his old grungy lab and his old abandoned parts and scraps to shame immediately. The place was amazing, Donnie can admit that. Grudgingly, of course. 

April and Casey are already on their feet, huddled around Raph and Leo like they’d start fighting, which Donnie practically pleads to the almighty lord above that does _not_ happen. It’s rude. Potentially tacky, too. Fortunately they must have put this situation over their issues because neither of them make a move towards the other, more focused on getting up without toppling back over. “God _damn_ it, hate these stupid fucking dimension travels,” Raph growls to no one in particular. “Oh, look, fuckin’ A - I’m 2D again!” he snaps, like that actually mattered.

“Quit complaining,” Leo snaps, and pulls Mikey to his feet. “You good?” he asks quietly, but Mikey just looks away instead of answering. “Don’t pull this childish bullshit right now, Mike. If you wanna play mute, nod or shake your fucking head.”

Mikey tilts his head, considering. Then he shrugs, still not saying a word. _Good enough for Leo_ , Donnie thinks wryly, as Leo takes that as answer enough and turns to face their alternate versions. “Hey, so, I’m gonna give you the complete rundown. Basically we’re you from another - 

“Whoa, whoa, wait, hold on. First of all - uh, what happened to your - “ Blue turtle, which Donnie assumes is this version’s Leo, gestures towards his counterpart and Donnie’s Raph. “ - um, your face? You look like you’ve done a round with the Shredder. And came out the worst end, no offense.”

Everyone stiffens, the two groups glancing from the _other_ Leo to Donnie’s Leo - and Donnie’s Leo swallows thickly, suddenly looking so, so tired. Ignoring his question, Leo hesitates before giving a response. “Shredder. He exists here?”

“Um? Yeah, well, he did? We defeated him, though - like, ages ago. Lost our old place and a family member in the process.”

“Splinter?” Leo asks quietly. The other Leo’s - oh, for fuck’s sake, Donnie’s just gonna call him Leon - eyeridges furrow and he shakes his head.

“No? Our, um - Gram-Gram. She was our great, great, great, great, great, great _, great_ by a couple thousand more greats grandparent - but her name was Karai.”

“Karai was your _grandma_?” Raph finally looks interested, and before Donnie can do anything to close that stupid goddamn mouth his dumbass brother fucking _chuckles_. Opening his mouth, rightfully looking furious, Leon’s about to say something before Raph’s chuckle contorts into a cackle. “ _Grandma_? Oh, even greater, I’m in a universe with fucking _loonies_ -

“Excuse me, but who the fuck do you think you are?” Leon snarls, stepping forward, but Leo places a hand on the taller turtles’ breastplate, stopping his counterpart from advancing any closer.

“Don’t,” Leo says softly, urgently, and for some reason Leon listens. “He’s just...had a night, really. Karai’s our sister back in my universe, that’s why he’s a little -

“Fucking wacked,” Mikey snaps, excitedly ending his two minute silent treatment to send a glare over to their older red-banded brother. “They’re all fucking out of it, I’m telling you.”

“You guys are a cheery bunch,” the other orange banded turtle - fuck, Donnie’s head is swimming - pipes up, smiling brightly. As all Mikey’s usually do, regardless of the universe. “Really. We’re glad you could stop by, seriously, but -

“It’s also very late and we can just _tell_ you all are so very exhausted,” Donnie’s own counterpart smiles, all tooth and no gums - and holds up a tablet. Crudely fashioned and fixed over several times, Donnie can tell - but still in pristine condition considering the blatantly obvious fact that they all lived in the sewers. “So, not to be rude, but. Bye.”

Donnie would usually jump at any chance to talk to another dimension Donatello - since the Donnie’s really just _got_ eachother more than their families ever would - intellectually, physically, mentally, etcetera etcetera. And this Donnie looked super cool, too, all futuristic and purpley aesthetic - but he really was exhausted and just wanted to apologize to Mikey.

And then hopefully pass out for at _least_ three hours. 

So instead of protesting, instead of asking their Donnie - an obviously younger, more confident version of himself - questions that he’d love to get an answer to but never would - he nods, waves tiredly, and turns away. Expecting the portal to switch on and take them back. 

Well, they didn’t really know how to get back, honestly, but they’d slave their way through until they did. Like they _always_ did. 

Donnie waits, staring expectantly at the big portal that looks...kinda like a rectangular donut, if he was being honest. He was totally digging the purple color scheme, by the way. Donnie-younger-maybe _slightly_ cooler-him was muttering under his breath, tinkering with some sort of computer, and suddenly he slams some sort of button, and - 

\- And nothing happens.

Predictable. Who didn’t see _this one_ coming? Casey coughs into a fist. “Uhm, give it a minute?” Other - Donnie says hopefully.

Dead silence. Then the portal gives a weak burst of pink light, the slight breeze fluttering their mask tails - but feebles out again almost immediately. “Fuck,” Other-Donnie sighs sadly, and Donnie turns around just as Other-Raph puts out an arm. Tensing in anticipation, Donnie almost runs out to grab his counterpart from the bigger ( _meaner?)_ version of Raph - but he just curls an arm around his smaller brother and hugs him to his side. Even more surprisingly was the fact that Other-Donnie _melts_ into the side-arm embrace.

His Raph has never, _ever_ , not in a million years -

“What happened?” Their Raph asks, a lot nicer than _Donnie’s_ Raph would have asked, and that realization makes his stomach twinge. From being in this dimension for all of five minutes Donnie could already tell these brothers were different. They were closer. They were - 

They were a family.

Something that Donnie hadn’t been able to call his for a long, long time. Even before Splinter had sacrificed himself. They were just people sharing a home, now - with the side addition of April and Casey whenever the time called for it. _It shouldn’t hurt this much_ , Donnie thinks as he watches Other-Donnie explain about the power outage and how they’d probably have to wait for another charge and his brother actually paying rapt attention, _it really shouldn’t._

“Is it broken?” Leo nudges him, and Donnie glances away from the two of them, exhaling shakily.

“No, it’s just - how can I explain this in a way you’ll get - uhm, basically the power to the portal shorted. It needs time and more energy to build back up, which means we’ll be stuck here,” Donnie explains quickly, noticing his other brothers and friends leaning over to hear better. The annoyed, almost constipated look crossing Raph’s face almost makes Donnie laugh - almost. 

“How long?” Mikey asks quietly, and Donnie hesitates, thinking.

“Well, it’d take a long time to regenerate all that energy, combined with the outside factors of -

“English, Donnie,” Raph reminds him, a sai twirling in his left hand. Donnie glares at him, swallowing that lump in his throat. Figures.

“...A day. Maybe two,” he summarizes, watching them all for their reactions. Unsurprisingly, Raph throws his hands up, annoyance pouring off of him.

“A whole day! Maybe two! In this wack, freaky, mega _lame_ dimension -

Donnie notices the other set of brothers quieten, and resists the urge to punch his brother in the same way Leo had obviously done back home.

“Let’s play a game,” April cuts him off furiously, the actual anger in her voice mollifying Raph instantly. “Let’s play ‘ _How long will Raph keep standing if he keeps being an annoying and selfish pain in the ass and screaming at people because of factors that are out of their control_ ’? Sounds like a great game, am I right?” 

“Fuck you, O’Neil,” Raph sneers in that friendly way only he could. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Leo snaps at him. “Seriously. We don’t have time for this.”

“You seemed to have enough time for it back when you told me you wished it’d been me on that roof,” Raph ignores the command, jabbing a pointed finger in Leo’s front shell as Donnie and Mikey gasp, the only two who hadn’t been present during the obvious argument-slash-fistfight. “Is that true? Did you really value Splinter’s life over mine that much? He wasn’t even a good _father_ , Leo, how could you say something like that?”

Leo has the sense to look ashamed. “I didn’t mean that, I was just - really mad -

“That’s your apology?” Raph jeers, cutting him off. 

“You’re the one who started the goddamn fight in the first place, you apologize first.” Leo counters, completely forgetting about keeping his composure in front of their younger counterparts. Who were watching Leo and Raph like a tennis match, might Donnie add. 

This was humiliating.

“You _ruined_ my face!” Raph retorts. 

“And you ruined mine!”

“You told me it was _my fault_ he died, Leo! That it was my - my fault,” The angry expression drops from his face and another one flits across his features - so heart-wrenchingly miserable and desperate. It disappears under that rage-filled mask after another beat, so quickly you’d think you’d imagined it. “S’that what you think I am? A murderer? Just fucking say it, Leo, don’t be shy!”

“Of course I don’t!” Leo hisses. “We can talk about this later, we’re in a place we don’t know, with other turtles we don’t - well we _do_ \- but we _don’t_ know, so just. Seriously, Raph, we can’t do this now. You know we can’t.”

“No, you know what? Fuck you!” Raph slams him in the front of his shell, furious. “You wanna play nice with the other-worldly weird dimension turtles that’s fine with me. I’m out. Seriously. Fuck y’all.” And without waiting for another word or direction from any of them he turns and storms across the room, disappearing around the corner. Donnie stares after him. He did not just. Leave. In the middle of the argument. In a lair that didn’t belong to him.

“Oh, my god. I’m so sorry,” April apologizes to the other set of brothers. Other-Raph swipes a massive hand in a “don’t worry about it” gesture that. Quite honestly could have taken Donnie’s own head off. He’s gonna have to get over his weird Raph phobia soon, honestly - the guy looked like a cupcake. But he was just so fucking _big_?

“S’fine, babe. Who are you, by the way?” Other-Mikey asks, curling a palm into a fist and leaning into it. April furrows her eyebrows at the smaller turtle.

“Does she not exist here? I’m April - April O’Neil.”

“No. Oh my god, no fucking way. You can’t be her.” Leon interrupts.

“I...can’t? Why not?”

“You’re - um. You’re white. Caucasian. Oh lord help me, April’s been _whitewashed,_ ” Donnie’s counterpart mutters, slapping his head into his hands and groaning. 

Leo, Mikey, and Casey stare from April to Other-Donnie in what must be shock as April’s mouth quite literally falls open. “ _Whitewashed_ \- 

“And him?” Leon asks, pointing towards Casey. 

“This is Casey,” Donnie gestures towards his friend. Other-Raph makes an inhuman screech.

“You’re _Casey_?” 

“Um, yeah?” Casey confirms weakly, and Donnie thinks he hears a _don’t kill me_ thrown in there. “Why? Was he whitewashed too?”

“He’s not even a _he_?” Other-Mikey yells, pointing at Casey like he’d grown another head. “She - oh my god, you - male Casey Jones - wait, holy shit, you’re white- our Casey’s Asian - _you’re whitewashed too holy fucking lord jesus god up above_ \- 

“ _Female Casey Jones_?” Mikey and Donnie say at the exact same time, eyes widening. Casey nearly passes out, stumbling slightly and leaning on Leo - who almost immediately reaches to steady him. “No _way_. Is she hot?” Mikey asks, earning a thwack on the shoulder from the dizzy human.

“Dude, don’t even - she’s _lesbian_. Wait, wait, _wait_ \- are _you_ lesbian?” Leon raises an eye-ridge at Donnie’s April, who’s still reeling from the whole ‘April’s been whitewashed’ part of the conversation.

“I’m...pansexual,” she answers slowly, pressing a free hand to her temple. “Is the April that lives here - is she -

“Uh huh, she’s dating our other friend Sunita. D’you know a - _ohhkay,_ I’m guessing that’s a no. Okay, we have so much to talk about. Like why you all look the exact same. Seriously, are you all the same kind of turtle? And what happened to your faces - and why your Raph is literally off the walls, oh my god by the way no offense but you guys are so _weird_?” Other-Mikey says this all very fast. 

Other-Donnie chuckles slightly, pulling his brother away from the other set. “It’s been a long night,” he explains tiredly. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out, Donnie, but - 

“Your portal shortened out and we’re staying here until it’s got enough energy to zap us back home? Kinda figured,” Donnie sends him a coy grin in return. 

“You are so fucking cool and I’m in love with you,” Other-Donnie confesses, raising a fist. Donnie obliges, meeting the fist bump. Okay, maybe this night didn’t completely suck after all. “You’re like the twin I’ve never had!” Other-Donnie sighs endearingly, and before Donnie can even think of a reply Leon shrieks.

“You little _bitch_ we are literally twins how dare you prioritize a turtle you’ve met ten minutes ago to your own brother we are legitimately flesh and blood I cannot fucking believe this fucking shit I fucking hate you -

“Wait. Oh my god, you two are _twins_ here?” Mikey points at the two of them, who nod. “So you guys aren’t all the same age?” 

“No? Me n’ Dee are fifteen, Mikey’s fourteen. Raph’s sixteen,” Leon jabs a finger at each brother as he talks. “You just missed our birthdays by just a couple - what, weeks?”

“You’re telling me Raph’s the oldest.” Leo says. Leon nods. “You. Raph is _older_ than you.” Leon nods again. “Oh my god, I’m actually in hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally have no idea where im going with this HELP i really should flesh out my stories before i barrel all in


	3. so ur more fucked up then we originally thought okay cool cool

Raph - bless his little, rampaging, _angry_ heart - had been in this new home for maybe seven and a half minutes, stomping through the unfamiliar halls of a lair that didn’t belong to him. 

And he, maybe quite predictably, _hated_ it.

Everything was just too goddamn bright, _way_ too cheery and just. Not him. Leo’s counterpart (what the hell was up with those red markings, by the way? they were totally sick, not that he’d ever tell the guy) had said that they’d already beaten Shredder and moved here after the maniac trashed their old dig, but they’d fucking set it up _well_. Homey. The atmosphere was welcoming and - 

Raph storms down another hallway, pointedly ignoring the fairy lights and promising aromas the kitchen offered. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ , he couldn’t, not here - he needs to _breathe_. 

Karai had been taken from them. Not Splinter. Splinter was still here. Splinter, his father - _no_ , not his father, a different _version_ of his father - he was in this brightly colored welcoming homey bright cheery lair and he was _alive_ and - 

_It’s my fault_. It’s his fault. Raph stops, stares at the end of the hallway. Unseeing, not comprehending. He can hear Leo’s scream in his head, he can feel April’s damaged arm around his shoulders, he can _see_ Shredder, he can see - 

No. _No, shut up_ , _I’m not there. I’m not there_. _I’m not there ee stoppp_

Rooftop. Rain pouring down on them. Mingled shouts of desperation. Screams of frustration. The faint, faint hope that they’d all get out of this unscathed, even though Casey’s been sent over the nonexistent railing and Slash was electrocuted and April could barely stand - 

The proud gleam in Splinter’s eyes before - 

Raph grips his face and makes a noise between a ragged gasp and a sob, staggering sideways into a wall and sliding down against it, pulling his limbs tighter around himself and burying his face into his knees, staring into the darkness with wetness building behind his eyes.

_myfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmyfaultmy_

The hatred in Leo’s eyes, nine minutes ago exactly in their spacious all-too-dark lair, that confirmed everything, it confirmed everything, he was a failure he couldn’t protect his family he couldn’t do _anything_ he was a murderer killer goddamn fucking _monster_ _fuck fuckfuck my fault can’t can’t cantt’t_

“Oh my - 

Raph’s head snaps up (his neck fucking cracks, jesus) and the person who’d dared interrupt his very private very public breakdown was - 

Well, it wasn’t even a person. “What the fuck - _who are you_ ,” Raph spits even though he has a sinking free-falling feeling in his chest and he knows _exactly_ who it is, placing his shell very firmly into the wall, still shaking and he was so comically short and why did that voice still sound so familiar - 

“Who am I? My son, I -

“ _Don’t fucking call me that_ ,” Raph bellows, cringing away as the rat - the freakishly small, _small_ version of Raph’s own father tries to take a step forward and his eyes are so wet and he can’t fucking _see_ \- “You aren’t him, why the fuck do you sound like him? Why are you - where’d you even come from get the fuck away from me -

The tail comes out of nowhere, thick and snappish and it wraps around his wrist maybe thrice evenly, and the rat - Splinter, is suddenly very close to his own face, examining him intently and any other time Raph’d dropkick him across the hallway but hell he even _smelled_ like his own father, his own dead - 

“You - you’re fake, can’t be him, I killed him, p-please,” he’s crying like some pathetic baby, still trying to lean away from Splinter’s sympathetic gaze, sympathetic ‘cause the fucker pitied him, because he was a mess,

Because he couldn’t _breathe_ and the man in front of him, rat or not, was looking at him with more compassion than Raph deserves. Murderers deserve no sympathy. For whom the bell tolls? For his enemies, Raph’s been taught. For Shredder, for the Kraang, for the Triceratons, for every other enemy that’s gotten between his family and peace. 

He was wrong, of course. The bell tolls for fucking everyone. His goddamn father included. 

Fantastic. Murder’s brought him a great new insight on death. Raph hiccups as tiny-rat-man cups his face and stares at him. “Red, breathe with me, in and out. You are having a panic attack - 

“No fucking shit,” Raph manages, but tries to do as Splinter says, closing his eyes and forcing everything else on _pause_.

When he emerges his breath is all static-y and it hurts to think and his eyes are still leaking and he feels shitty - but also a million times better. “Hurts, y’know. You - you’re him, but you aren’t, _heh_ , it’s - fuck,” Raph sighs, pulling away from the rat and wiping his nose on his wrist-guard. Totally unsanitary and Donnie’d lose his shit if he saw, but whatever. “You’re so fucking short, I can’t get over it. What are you, four three?” 

“Three even, but that does not matter,” Splinter swipes a hand in a ‘it does not matter’ gesture (though it totally did matter and Raph could actually stomp on him), stepping away politely to give him space. “What truly matters, my…” he stops as Raph stiffens, starting again after he uncoils, “...er, _Raphael_ , what truly matters is if you are alright. Are you - 

“I’m fine,” Raph says, just a tad too quickly. “I’ll be fine. I’m...I’m sorry, for yelling at you,” Raph bows his head, because no matter what he thought of the rat - of any Splinter, any universe - Splinter raised them, he deserved the basic respect. 

“Ah, don’t mention it,” Splinter says cheerfully as Raph stands, everything aching in protest. “I’m assuming you’re from an alternate universe?”

“How’d you - 

“Besides the racket from Purple’s lab? You are way too short to be my Raphael,” Splinter observes, chuckling - though it’s not mean at all and Raph relaxes a bit at hearing it. “The same temper, though. Older, better trained. Traumatized. And recently, too,” he gazes up at the gobsmacked turtle before turning, leading the way - they were heading back towards Other-Donnie’s lab. Probably for the best, anyway, Raph feels mellow and more exhausted than ever before. He follows as Splinter continues, voice soft and all-knowing. “You’ve lost someone important to you, and from your previous outburst...I’m guessing it was your father. I am truly sorry for your loss.”

“And I’m - I’m sorry for yours,” Raph says quickly, remembering how they’d lost Karai. Splinter nods in acknowledgement, and they round the corner. 

-

“Ayo, what the fuck? You guys are so fucking _ancient_ , I’m legit scared. Wait wait _waittt_ what’s happening where you guys are from? Do you guys even have TikTok? Who’s the president? Is One Direction still together -

“‘Angelo, _stop_ ,” Donnie pleads, and Leon chuckles a bit as the other turtles and their friends (though Leon personally still can’t fucking believe that April’s white - or that Casey’s a guy...male Casey _is_ kinda sexy though lowkey...cue the crying face emoji...maybe in another life...) indulge in his baby brother’s excited questions. He studies them, each of them, and he can tell his Raph and Donnie are doing the same, silently measuring them up. 

They were older. That part was obvious, from the way they carried themselves, the frayed edges - like they’d fought and destroyed several thousand things just to get to this point. It makes their own struggles, even their enemies - it made them all look trivial compared to the shit these turtles had obviously gone through. Childsplay. Kid stuff, even though Leon and his own brothers had fought tooth and nail to get to this point, too.

Trauma didn’t discriminate, obviously, but these people were first class examples of what _not_ to do after said traumatic events - and did he really want to spend two days cozied up to the war hardened veterans and their - er, human sidekicks? Leon exchanges a look with his twin, gesturing towards the portal. _How long_? he signs, tilting his head questioningly as he waits for a response.

Donnie raises an eyeridge, probably wondering why he didn’t whisper or ask or discuss this with the other set, but Leo raises his right back. ASL was such a great way to communicate - no one, including and _especially_ other mutants outside Leo’s close circle - could understand. _Two days at most_ , Donnie signs back quickly. _What’s with you?_

_They aren’t okay, ‘Tello. More fucked than anyone I’ve ever seen. From what their Raph - and me - er, other Leo - said earlier, their Splinter is dead. They were fighting? And blaming eachother? For his death? Donnie, I’m serious. They’re only a couple of years older than us and - what if that’s our future? Donnie, what if - what if Dad -_

_Stop,_ Donnie returns, bringing his open right hand down harshly on his palm in a ninety degree angle. _You can’t think like that. You can’t, Leo, it’ll drive you insane._

Leo hesitates, blinking rapidly. Then he rotates his hand clockwise across the front of his shell, allowing the hint of a smile to cross his face this time. _Sorry. Freaked out._

 _You’re an idiot_. Donnie returns, which Leo rolls his eyes at because he's not even wrong. Then, a slower, more pronounced: _Are you okay?_

_I’m always okay, dear brother._

_...then what are you planning on doing_? Donnie asks slowly.

Leo hesitates. Then he turns back towards the other set, placing a hand on Mikey’s shoulder. “I know tonight must have been - hard. On all of you,” he says, exchanging another look with his twin. Then he exhales, rubbing his temple. “You’re all welcome to stay here until we can get the portal working again. I’m sure you’re all probably exhausted and really hungry -

“Pizza?” Older-Other-Mikey asks, and the similarities between him and Leon’s younger brother make him pause for a second, openly staring. “Sorry,” their Mikey says quickly, holding his hands up in surrender as everyone glances at him. “I - nevermind.”

“Bro, _shut up_ , you like pizza too? I mean, duh, everyone likes pizza, but like? Really? Wait omigosh do you like to cook? Bro c’mere?” Mikey gestures frantically at his counterpart, and then literally reaches forward and grabs his wrist, pulling the older version of himself across the lab and - 

Smack dab into Splinter. And it looks like he’s found their Raph, how fun. Leon winces. That couldn’t have been an easy conversation. 

“Pops!” Michael yelps excitedly as the older Mikey stumbles to a halt, wrist falling from his counterpart's hand as he stares down at Leo’s father in obvious shock. Leon glances towards the other set of turtles, April, and Casey - and notices immediately how their eyes flicker from the other Raph to Splinter, probably inwardly determining how that played out. Leon notices how the older Raph's eyes are puffed up, swollen and bloodshot. His face looks like a giant marshmallow - _jesus,_ poor guy. He lets that previous anger over the Karai comment slide away - not forgotten but forgiven. 

“Splinter?” April asks quietly, breathlessly, and Leon’s father nods. “Oh, I -

“You need food and sleep,” Splinter interrupts gently, gazing up at them all. “We can discuss things further tomorrow, but it is almost two in the morning and I am very, very tired. Blue, if you could?”

“Sure, Dad,” Leon runs over to the lab door, followed by his older brothers and hopefully the alternate versions of themselves. “Everyone follow me, we’re gonna go to the kitchen. And then I can show you guys where you can stay.”

-

Mikey’s never been so happy to see pizza in his entire life, after the shock he’d had. Splinter - Mikey doesn’t have the heart to give the midget rat a nickname, it burned just seeing him - he was still alive, still here in this universe. These turtles got their father, they still had -

It’s just not fair, nothing was fair. Mikey wants to cry from how stupid it all is. He feels like shit, he’s tired, he’s - well, not homesick for the _lair_ \- just homesick for his father. Everything hurt so much, and - 

“Hey, Mike,” Donnie slips into the stool next to him, quiet amongst all the other conversations in their spacious dining room, and Mikey glances at him before returning to his pizza. His genius brother takes that as an invitation and gets comfortable. 

“Donnie,” Mikey returns, swallowing a bite of his pizza.

“M’sorry about...earlier, in the lab. I really am. I didn’t mean to snap, I know I do it all the time, I just...I don’t want to make excuses. Coming to get away from Leo and Raph is completely acceptable and you had every right to be in there, I’m sorry I insinuated otherwise,” Donnie mumbles this all very quickly, nibbling at a crust piece anxiously. “I’m - 

“Dee, it’s okay,” Mikey’s tired of the apologies, tired of the fighting, tired of the excuses, tired of everything. It's not okay, but if it’ll get Donnie to shut up Mikey counts it as a win. “I’m fine.”

“But it’s not okay,” Donnie protests. “We’ve been doing this to you for so long, just shoving you away an -

“I said it was fine,” Mikey snaps, lowering his voice immediately as Donnie recoils and the other occupants of the room glance over at him. “I’m fine. It’s over, so just...stop talking about it.”

Donnie nods reluctantly, and they sit and eat in silence. 

-

“Are you okay, sleeping with all of them like this?” Leon asks, and April feels the strange urge to laugh.

“I’ll be fine, Leo,” she clasps the taller Leo’s hand (taller than _her_ Leo by a couple inches? At least?) between her smaller palms and squeezes gently. “Thank you for everything. Food, shelter, the works. Not throwing us out. We appreciate it.”

“You guys are like...estranged cousins, so it’s no biggie,” Leon laughs it off. “Er...I messaged our April. Our Casey. They’re coming over tomorrow. Said something about wanting to meet you and your boyfriend over there.”

“We’re not…” Oh, what the hell? “That’ll be great. I’m excited to meet...um, myself?” 

Leon snickers, and again April is shocked to see the differences between her Leo and the more laid-back, easygoing version. “See you tomorrow, babe?” 

“You know it,” April smiles back, letting go of his hand, and he waves before closing the door behind him. Turning, she lets that smile drop as she’s faced with her own family - the tired, agitated, overwhelmed, older counterparts. “This? Was exhausting.”

“God, don’t you know it,” Casey grumbles, legitimately punching a pillow before violently shoving his face into it. Mikey’s curled up under an orange blanket, close to Leo, who’s got his knees pulled to his chest as he stares off into nothing. Donnie’s playing on his T-Phone, which April swore had no reception earlier - and Raph’s…

“You good?” April takes a seat next to Raph, and he shifts to make room for her.

“Yeah,” Raph frowns, scratching his neck. “Today was the worst. Hope those other wackos let us sleep for at least twenty hours.”

“You’re so lazy,” Leo says from across the room, but it’s teasing, almost lighthearted. Raph chuckles, smirking over at him.

“Takes one to know one, Fearless.” 

Leo just shakes his head in return, a smile adorning his features, and you’d almost think that things were - well, that they were okay. At least for tonight.

April falls asleep as soon as her head hits the bean bag pillow, fairy lights criss-crossing across the room. There's no nightmares tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not me saying ayo what the fawk religiously what does it even mean
> 
> anyway :-)


	4. commercial break

It happens after Casey’s dragged himself out of his shared room with his team, stumbling through the halls until he’s found the bathroom from the night before. He’s washing up when he hears it, switching the water off and standing stock-still to make sure he wasn’t actually going crazy.

No, he wasn’t. Some other assholes in the lair were participating in karaoke night at 9:48 in the morning. 

Sighing, Casey scrubs at his eyes, wondering for what must have been the billionth time in the past - three? It must have been three years by now - why his life was the way it was. Opening the bathroom door, he hesitantly looks down the way he’d come, back towards peace and quiet and _sleep_. Rolling his eyes, muttering blithe insults under his breath towards whoever was making this much noise, Casey turns and heads the opposite direction, walking towards the kitchen. It was way too fucking early for this shit.

“ _Overthinking…’s got me drinking....messing with my head....OW!_ ”

A heavy electronic beat suddenly resounds around the entire fucking _lair_ and the culprits - Mikey and Leo - _Other_ Mikey and Leo - are bouncing around the kitchen, screaming the lyrics, tossing literal glass plates at the other and managing to catch them expertly, them being ninjas and all. Casey stops at the entrance of the kitchen, gobsmacked by how _carefree_ they looked, because his Mikey and his Leo would never -

_Tell me what you hate about me,_

_Whatever it is I’m sorry -_

“ _YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”_ Leon caterwauls along to the music, and he sounds legitimately like a dying chicken but Casey has to swallow a smile. These ninja turtles were _funny_. Mikey echos Leon’s dying chicken yell, launching a porcelain bowl in his direction, and Leon catches it flawlessly, pouring flour, sugar, and olive oil into said bowl. They were legitimately partying and cooking at the same time, what the fuck - 

_I know I can be dramatic,_

_But everybody said we had it!_

More shouting and throwing dishes, and Casey is stuck between running away or calling Dr. Phil because these younger counterparts of Casey’s family can _not_ be mentally stable. Mikey suddenly stops what he’s mixing and stares at Leo, seriousness etching from every pore on his face. “I’m coming to terms with a broken heart -

“ - I guess that sometimes good things fall apart,” Leon agrees, just as serious, and they both bop their heads dramatically as the song (thankfully) ends. Leon leans over to his phone to pause what Casey’s assuming is the music. “Bro, Mikey, we’re gonna go to - to - the X-Factor, right, like - bro. We’re gonna be famous. Simon Cowell’s gonna love us.”

“I highly doubt that,” Casey finally speaks up, announcing his presence, and Mikey legitimately _squeals_ , launching a metal spoon at his forehead. Casey barely manages to dodge the object that would have taken an entire eye out - and turning, he watches it clatter into an adjoining room. “Wow, you guys sure are energetic in the morning.”

“I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not but don't just leave the spoon out there, we need it to cook our breakfast surprise,” Leon orders, pointing towards the room the spoon had disappeared into. Casey sighs dramatically and goes to retrieve it as Leo continues. "Also if you say one more word about our singing skills I will feed you to - to Donnie’s exploding microwave,” he finishes lamely, turning away from them at Casey’s widening grin. “Shut up, Jones. You suck ass.”

“ _I_ suck ass? Who was the one that sounded like Peppa Pig on helium? And woke up everyone on planet Earth with your squealing?”

Leon turns away from the sizzling skillet (again) to shoot a smirk at the taller, raven haired boy. Without missing a beat he says: “You’re just jealous _I_ have the fattest ass in this room.”

“ _Hey_ ,” Michael whines, and Leon rolls his eyes at his younger brother. 

“Bitch? You’re literally a ninja turtle, you _have_ no ass.” Casey crosses his arms, entering the room fully, wondering how in the world they’ve gone from the brothers’ bad singing to literal ass comparison. No correlation at all. 

“Bruh, that’s so _racist_ ,” Leon’s eyes crinkle as he narrows his eyes, the red stripes crinkling with the rest of his face. “Just for that you get no skillet, baby.”

“No offense but that literally looks like a casserole.” Casey leans forward to confirm, wrinkling his nose at the sizzling food. Mikey snickers while Leon looks offended.

“What’s wrong with casserole?”

“It’s disgusting?” Casey states it more like a question than a fact. 

“Casseroles are white people food!” 

“Okay, and? They’re still so fucking disgusting -

“Bitch it’s not even casserole - 

“Am I arguing with a midget. Because I think I am,” Casey interrupts, ignoring the outraged expression that crossed the slider’s face. “What are you, five two?”

“Five _five_ , for your information,” Leon spits, grabbing a piece of barely mixed dough and flinging it at Casey, cackling when it hits him square in the face. “Hey, that’s a good look on you!”

“I’m going to kill you,” Casey decides, peeling the dough away from his face and aiming, launching it at the kid with all the energy he could muster at 9:53 in the morning. Leon’s cackle freezes on his face and he squeals, dodging. Trying to preserve his dignity, the slider reaches for another piece, launching it at the raven-haired boy with a snicker. Casey catches the piece from mid-air and makes little mini dough-balls with his hand, and - 

“Oh my god, _guys_ , can you not have a food fight with our breakfast!” Mikey whines, scrambling backwards as Leon and Casey start really getting into it. 

“Seriously? _You’re_ the sperm that won?” Leon shouts at Casey, and Casey finds himself genuinely enjoying whatever the fuck was happening, laughing as he takes cover behind the island. 

“I don’t have the time or the crayons to explain anything to you, Leo -” Casey calls back, popping up to get a good look at his opponent and getting a face full of flour. Leon can’t _breathe_.

“You look like Lord Farquaad!” Leon literally falls over, wheezing and hiccuping and Casey, spitting flour out of his mouth and wiping it out of his eyes, finds himself in hysterics and he actually can’t remember the last time he’s laughed this hard, even before they killed Shredder or Splinter hit his last track or April went psycho -

Casey feels something freeze in his chest at that thought but doesn’t let the grief overtake him, waiting until Leon pops his head up again to get his revenge. He would not let the most fun he’s had in months be wasted on dumb thoughts, no thanks. 

-

Leo blinks sluggishly upwards at the warm multicolored fairy lights encompassing their temporary sanctuary. The room was dim with a blue-ish teal-ish colored aura (an excellent choice, might Leo add) and was decorated with different retro oddities, posters with people from before Leo’s own time, like Blondie and Queen. There was a record player laying delicately on one of the shelves, with records populating an abandoned desk across from where Leo and his family had curled up into.

Leo sits up, thinking. The technology - the _portal_ , and this Donnie’s tech, with how futuristic it was...they couldn’t be from the eighties - they’d already met those versions, anyway. And while the lair gave off that 80’s vibe...maybe it was just their aesthetic. It looked _sick_ , though. Gave off an almost nostalgic vibe. Kinda feels better than the barren old train station back home, more homey. 

Though it wasn’t just the lights or the 80’s nostalgia that gave this place a feeling of welcomeness. They’d worked hard to make this place the way it did - collectively. They were a well oiled machine. A unit. Leo hasn’t been able to call _his_ team that since...well, after they lost New York the first time would be a great example. 

He glances at the huge digital clock on the wall and has to double check at seeing the double _double_ digits up there. 10:39. Despite most of their action usually happening during the night, Leo still considered himself to be an early riser - by human standards, obviously. Gave him a sense of peace and motivation for just a simple thing, a routine. Seven was a good, solid number. Not too early nor too late. 

Oddly enough, Leo can’t remember a better night’s sleep before tonight. Maybe he really should start sleeping in more. He cranes his neck towards his other - still sleeping, thankfully - family members. Mikey, Raph, Donnie. April. He stiffens at no sight of Casey, but doesn’t immediately jump into red alert. They haven’t known the other turtles long, but Leo’s gotten pretty damn good at gauging people. And April, more importantly, has made no mention of them being untrustworthy - and she was the group _psychic_. Leo leans against the wall, figuring wherever Casey was, he wasn’t in immediate danger.

He doesn't know how long he sat there, gazing into the dim light, but he’s startled when, maybe minutes or hours later, a body flops down next to him. “Hey,” Raph mutters, low and grumbly.

“Hey yourself,” Leo says back, almost tensing with how stiff and guarded Raph is. He doesn’t blame his brother, given everything that went down the night before, but… “You doing okay?”

“Uh…” Raph scratches the back of his neck. “Can’t answer that one honestly. Next question.”

Leo feels the ghost of a smile fly across his lips. “You’re pretty funny for someone who nearly broke my nose last night, y’know.”

“You can’t talk, asshole. Gave me a black eye,” Raph shoots back quickly. Then, after a moment of silence, he speaks again, almost a whisper. “Sorry. About the face. And the punch. And. Fightin’ with ya in the first place,” he angels his head away. “I just...I don’t wanna make excuses for it. I saw you in the living room and - I don’t know, s’ like I couldn’t see anything past my anger. It’s not even your fault, the fact that Dad liked you best.”

“...” Leo contemplates how to - or even if he _could_ \- make Raph feel better. First steps are always apologies, though, and Leo’s got apologizing to do. “I’m sorry too. For fighting back, for - for telling you it was your fault. It wasn’t, Raph, I’m so sorry for saying that. I don’t blame you at all - in fact I really just blame myself for allowing Shredder to split us up that night,” Leo gives a bit of a self-deprecating laugh, barreling onwards when Raph perks his head up to stare at him. “I can’t apologize for this either, but I’m sorry about Dad. He was a good teacher but such an awful father. You, Mikey, Donnie - you deserved better.”

“We _all_ deserved better,” Raph shakes his head. “It wasn’t your fault _either_ , Leo. God, I’d prefer you fuckin’ blamed me for it instead a’ yourself, because you’re the only one I’ll _ever_ follow. Y’know damn well Splinter never had that privilege.”

Leo glances sideways at his brother, feeling unexpected warmth curl in his stomach. “You mean that?”

“Course I do,” Raph retorts. Leo beams at him, _really_ beams, and Raph holds his right arm out, elbow joint curled at a ninety degree angle and hand wagging invitingly at him. “We good?”

Leo meets the hand with his own, shakes it dramatically for good measure, and feels a huge weight lift from his shoulders. Maybe this entire portal mishap was for a good thing, maybe they’d become better - better like their younger counterparts. Someday. For now, though, this was enough. 

“Everyone heard that, right?” Comes another voice, from the floor, and Leo and Raph glance over at Donnie, who, up until now, they both believed was still asleep. “Tell me I’m not dreaming. Did Leo and Raph really just make up?”

“I think so?” April asks.

“The place isn’t burning down...isn’t that something,” Mikey states, deadpan, voice still heavy from sleep, and Raph and Leo exchange exasperated looks. 

“You guys heard that entire conversation,” Raph says slowly.

“Yep.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Si, compadre.” 

“You guys are complete _assholes_ , that’s totally eavesdropping!” Leo grabs his abandoned pillow and flings it at Donnie. “We were having a private conversation!” 

“With all of us in earshot!” Donnie snips back, opening mahogany eyes to shoot Leo a sleep-filled glare. The two of them glare at eachother for a moment before a mischievous grin rises to the genius’s face. “Hey Mikey, April?” 

“Yeah?” Mikey says while April murmurs assent, the two of them finally emerging from under their blankets. They all look well rested, all of them, and it makes Leo happy to see them so relaxed, because God knows they haven't been able to do that since...well, since forever.

“D’you wanna…” Donnie yawns, interrupting himself. “Ambush Leo and Raph?”

“Hmm, A-Team overthrow, interesting,” Mikey sits up further, a sleepy grin rising to his face. “Whaddaya mean by that?” 

“Ummm…” Donnie pauses, then collects himself. Blinking at his older brothers, his next words cause Leo’s blood to freeze. “Pillow fight?” 

“You guys are so _on_ ,” Raph says, and in the span of that sentence he’s got three pillows stacked under each arm, effectively taking all the weapons for himself. After a moment’s consideration he offers one to Leo. “Team?” 

“Oh, yeah,” Leo feels himself grinning at the whole prospect of letting _loose_ , at least for a couple hours. Of course they were in someone else’s home, of course they still had the whole impending issue of _oh well our only parent slash father figure slash ADULT was still dead_ and they haven’t treated eachother like they should in the weeks that followed after his death, but…

Maybe this was the right step. Leo grabs the pillow from Raph’s hand.

-

“I’ve gotta admit, I was totally expecting you all to have murdered eachother by this time but - wow, this is better than what I was expecting,” Leon enters the room maybe half an hour later, followed closely by Casey. “I see you guys have found the pillows,” he observes, making no more than a _mmf_ when said pillow hits him square in the face. His counterpart cackles, falling into the mess of blankets and expertly twisting to the side as April psychic-ly sends a pile of pillows straight towards him. Donnie, however, takes one look at Casey and immediately loses his shit.

“You look like Lord Farquaad!” Donnie snickers, pointing at Casey, and Casey swipes a finger across his face, taking it away and squinting down at it. Shit, still covered in flour.

“That’s what I said!” Leon says excitedly, wide eyed and grinning, and Casey rolls his eyes at the two of them so hard he probably sees the back of his head.

“You look like Shrek,” Casey quips back at them, and the joke _might_ have worked since they were both green, but it was so overused it falls flat.

“Wow, how original,” Donnie rolls his eyes. “I don’t wanna hear anything from the guy with an entire bakery on his face.”

“Excuse you, the guy with the entire bakery on his face just made you breakfast, so I’d appreciate a very sincere ‘thank-you’ -

“If by cooking you mean having a food fight with all of our hard earned _wasted_ ingredients then yes, he did a lot of cooking!” Shouts Michael from out in the hallway, and Casey turns and sends him the middle finger. Michael’s shouting - and the appearance of the surlier, younger, more-exhausted Donnie puts the pillow fight on pause for a split second as they all look towards the new arrivals. Donald enters the room and stares down at the war-traumatized veterans they’d invited into their home for at most _two days_ that were literally rolling around the room like a bunch of squealing leeches.

Bad simile. Leeches didn’t even squeal.

“I heard screaming. Who needs CPR,” Donald says, with the emotional depth of a literal stick. The others stare up at him. “You mean I traveled all the way across the lair and no one is dying. Great.” He sighs resignedly. “Well. This was anticlimactic. Anyway, Raph and Splinter are eating weird lumps in the kitchen. I think they’re going to get food poisoning and die, so that’s my next stop. Thank you all, bye -”

Casey and Leon shriek. “They’re eating the _pancakes_?” Leon yells, doing a complete one-eighty and dashing back down the hallway, pushing past his youngest brother. Perplexed, the pillow fight is put on indefinite hiatus as the other members of the Hamato family - temporary to this reality or not - follow after him. 

Okay, imagine nine people running down a series of hallways. No, better yet, imagine nine SWAT team members running down a series of hallways in full battle gear screaming _FBI!! OPEN UP!!_ at the top of their lungs. That was legitimately what was happening. Just....ninja turtle version. Panting slightly, Michael rounds the corner into the kitchen and points a stout little finger at the plate his oldest brother and his father were eating from. “Dad, Raph - _no_ , oh my god - don’t eat from there -

“What? Why?” Raph mumbles, face full of food. The snapping turtle takes a big gulp and swallows his mouthful down. “Did you put rat poison on it or something?”

“I’m sitting. Right here,” Splinter reminds him, raising his deadly tail in warning. Raph immediately raises his hands in surrender.

“Oh my gosh, you _guys_ , that was for. All of us,” Michael raises his hand in a general gesture for ‘all of us’, indicating the huge SWAT team that was crowding up behind him. “Since Leon and Casey thought it’d be pretty funny to have World War Three in our kitchen - 

“He started it!” Casey defends himself, bristling. Leon smacks him over the head. 

“No worries! We have plenty left on this plate, plus we can whip up a couple eggs n’ stuff. Y’know, last time we were being chased to death by Meat Sweats he mentioned having roasted turtles with like, eggs n stuff. And avocados and tomatoes. And toast. So like. We could do that. Minus the roasted turtle, obviously,” Raph says casually, jabbing his fork back into the pancakes.

Dead silence. “Who the fuck is _Meat Sweats_ ,” Raph’s counterpart states, crossing his arms.

“No idea. Sounds foreign,” his genius brother chimes in.

Dead silence part two. “You guys don’t know who Meat Sweats is?” Leon asks, turning on his heel so he faced the older versions. When they shake their heads Leon’s eyeridges rise, clearly confused. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding. Uhm...Warren Stone. Big Mama. Oh my god? You guys don’t even have a Baron Draxum?” 

“Who the hell is Baron Draxum -

“Our _Dad_?” Leon states, and. Dead silence part three. “I mean - our _other_ Dad?” 

“Holy fucking shit start talking right now,” Casey says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY NOTHING MUCH REALLY HAPPENED i just didn't wanna write angst um
> 
> next chappie they have a lonnggggg ass discussion about. not only draxum but about losing people and coping methods and im so excited to write it all out because yeah the rise boys are younger but they're a hell of a lot smarter about. actually DEALING with their issues and i think the 2012 peeps could really learn a lot from them
> 
> also april and casey really do show up next chapter i promise LKDFJSFSJ not me spoiling everything


	5. small talk

“Okay, so. Let’s exchange traumatic backstories,” Leon says as soon as they’re all settled with plates - all stacked with a mixture of pancakes and eggs (topped with avocados and tomatoes...and toast). Splinter’s out hogging the kitchen for whatever reason, and he’s kicked them all out, so...living room it was, apparently. Fortunately there’s enough room for all ten occupants, stretched out around the room but close enough to hear and participate in the conversation. “Since you guys were so interested in Draxum...uh, we’ll go first.”

“Okay. So, our Dad, Splinter...he wasn’t always a rat, obviously. He’s a descendant of the Hamato Clan - the same clan that defeated Shredder 500 years before and trained against the Foot Clan to prevent his return, yadda yadda. Pretty sure you know that part,” Leon fades off at his counterpart’s confusion. “Or...not?”

“Not,” Leo agrees, placing his finished plate on the floor and twisting his huge fingers through a napkin. “Our Shredder is...well, he _was_ human. He mutated himself, so.”

“Fascinating,” Donald says from his place stationed next to his twin, looking Leo over curiously. “You say he mutated...himself?” Leo nods, and Donald looks like he wants to reply, but Leon will _not_ let the conversation get off track so early after it’s started. 

“ _Anyway_ , Dad trained under his grandfather - our _great_ grandfather Sho. But...after his mom, our grandma, left so she could perform her duties, he became bitter and gave the entire thing up. So he left, went to Hollywood, and became Lou Jitsu - the incredible movie slash action star.”

“The rat in the kitchen was a _moviestar_? That's new.” Casey raises his eyebrows, completely dumbfounded, and similar noises of shock come from the other-dimensional peeps. Leon holds a hand up, and they quieten, watching him in rapt interest.

“Yeah, he was. According to Dad, he...as Lou Jitsu, when he was shooting a movie, he met, ugh, I hate talking about this. He met this woman, Big Mama. And he...god, this is so disgusting, _blegh_ -

“He met Big Mama and fell in love with her,” Michael states bluntly, rolling his eyes at Leon’s dramatics. “And when he proposed, she revealed her true form to him - a yokai.”

“Yokai? What’s that?” 

“Everything that _isn’t_ an average human citizen of New York City,” Raphael takes a swig of water before elaborating. “Mutants, if you want it simple.”

“Ah,” Leo nods, making a gesture for them to continue.

“So...she kidnaps him, throws him into the Battle Nexus, which is just a big underground illegal battle ring, good stuff. Since he’s that bitch, he squashed his other opponents easily,” Leon says with a tint of pride. “After doing it for so long, though...he gives up. Becomes a pacifist. Until Baron Draxum shows up.”

“Your...other father?”

“Right. See, Draxum wasn’t the best back then. He was kinda evil, actually!” Leon explains, examining a fingernail as he continues to talk. “He kinda...wanted Dad’s DNA to create a...what was it? A mutant army?” Leon looks sideways to his twin to confirm, and Donald nods. “Yeah. More good stuff. So basically he kidnaps Dad from the original kidnapper and takes him to his lab, and that’s where we come along - we were -

“You were test subjects,” Donnie realizes, and Leon nods grimly. “Wow. Holy shit.”

“I mean, it ended up all right,” Michael amends. “Dad gets free and destroys Drax’s lab, but he gets bitten by a rat and then exposed to the ooze, so that causes his mutation into - well, all things fluffy. But he saves us and escapes. Since then we’ve just...grown up in the sewers.”

“This Draxum guy sounds like a real character,” April says, pulling her knees to her chest. 

“Oh, he was. There was an entire point where we were just...really angry at him, for all that he’s done. Especially because he joined up with the Foot to try and bring the Shredder back with this whole dark armor thing, and then it _succeeded_ , but it turned out the Foot were really only using him as a scapegoat, so. He changed sides, and Mikey here got attached.” Leon rubs his youngest brother’s dark green head, eliciting a content purr from the box turtle. “Pretty sure he n’ Dad have a thing going on, too.”

“...a thing?”

“Yeah. Enemies to lovers, slow burn,” Leon smirks, an expression that just fit perfectly on his face. “But that’s enough about us! Tell us about yourselves, we’re sure you’re all juicy with details.” He catches the hesitant looks they send eachother and continues hastily. “You don’t have to tell us everything, especially if it’s recent. But it doesn’t hurt to talk about it, promise. You’re with friends here,” he finishes quietly.

“Our Splinter was from Japan, in the Hamato Clan. He...was in a martial arts school, and was only rivaled by the Shredder, his adoptive brother. And though they didn’t know it, Shredder was from the wiped out rival clan. The Foot,” Leo begins, making sure not to leave any crucial details out. “They both really loved this woman. Tang Shen. She would have been our mother...” 

Raph sighs, taking over for his oldest brother. “She chose to marry Splinter, an’ the Shredder couldn’t accept it. Fuckin’ maniac vowed revenge on Dad, and at the same time he _apparently_ learned what clan he was really from and started rebuildin’ the Foot up from the ground. One night, he came to Dad’s door and asked to duel. To the death.”

“And Dad agreed,” Mikey murmurs.

“And Dad agreed,” Raph nods. “They fought through the house, catchin’ it on fire. And when the bastard was about to kill Dad, Tang Shen took the final hit instead of him. She saved his _life_.”

“That’s not even the worst of it!” Mikey exclaims. “Dad escapes to New York believing both his wife _and_ his daughter died in the fire, but Shredder takes her and raises her as his own. Her name was Miwa, but he called her - 

“He called her Karai,” Donnie says quietly. “Our older sister.”

Their counterparts are stunned. “That’s...wow. How’d you get involved?” Donald states, leaning forward as if just by staring at them he could figure them all out.

“After Splinter gets to New York, he buys four baby turtles. When he’s leaving, he hears noise coming from an alleyway and goes to investigate. He sees two men talking over a vial...I don’t remember the entire thing from memory, but apparently some rat brushed up against his leg and startled them, and he’s forced to defend himself when they attack. The vial breaks in the struggle, and it’s contents get all of us.” Leo explains. 

“Those two ‘men’ weren’t men, they were Kraang. A species from another planet that were looking to terraform the Earth. And the stuff inside the vial? It’s mutagen. It made Splinter into a rat because the last thing that touched him was the rat in the alleyway, it made us into humanoid mutant turtles because the last thing that touched _us_ was the humans in the pet shop, it’s - mutagen is -

“- Highly unpredictable, dangerous, and life-altering?” Donald cuts him off, and Donnie nods distractedly. “We’ve found one thing we’ve got in common, then. But our ‘mutagen’ wasn’t created by any homicidal aliens. It’s all from Draxum and his _oozequitos_ , those things basically go around and sting people and turn them into mutants.”

“Remind me to kill every mosquito I see in this fucking dimension ever,” Casey glances around the living room like he suddenly expected to see one flapping around. Leon rolls his eyes at him. 

“Okay, wow. This was a lot to take in,” Michael pouts, but it quickly turns into a beam. “But it’s good, right? The man that haunted both of our families for so long - he’s dead. In both of our worlds.”

“He took our Father,” Leo reminds him gently.

“He took Karai from us,” Leon reminds him right back. “And that’s another thing. You guys are _different_ , you know? Older. More dangerous. You’ve faced things we haven’t, we get that. But if no one else is going to tell you I probably should. You’re all fucked up.”

It’s quiet for a moment. “Thank you,” Mikey says, then swallows the rest of his orange juice.

“That wasn’t a compliment,” Donald says. Mikey sticks a tongue out at him.

“I don’t think you’ve got any room to talk,” Leo says carefully, gazing at him. Distantly. Like he was staring at him from the top of a very tall, very guarded tower. Curse these traumatized turtles and their human friends. Curse them.

“Why?” Leon challenges. “Because we’re younger? Listen, _buddy_ , you might be more experienced, but don’t underestimate us just because of our age. We’ve saved our city just like you’ve saved your own - you’re just scared to admit it.”

“Scared to admit what?” Raph retorts, crossing his arms and glaring at him from across the room.

“ _T_ _he fact that you need help_!” Leon throws his hands up, nearly hitting his twin in the face. Dead silence. Uncomfortable silence.

Raph narrows his eyes. “I don’t need help.”

“Right, and my name’s actually Harry Styles. Of _course_ you do. All of you do. With all of the trauma you’ve got? All the mental issues, the unresolved and the ignored - the fact that you throw fists first and talk things out later - _literally_. You’re gonna sit there and tell me with a straight face that you’re completely healthy?”

“What are you suggesting, then?” April asks, leaning around Raph to get a better look at Leon. Leon points at her, grinning.

“She gets it! Okay, actually, I have an entire list on how y’all can treat each other better, first of all. Don’t ignore each-other, don’t shut the other person down when they’re raising a valid point or argument. _Listen_ to one another, don’t tease or belittle them for factors they can’t control. Especially for factors they can’t control,” Leon looks from Mikey to Donnie to Raph, and there’s a thick silence in the room - he must have figured out about Raph’s abusive tendencies to his younger brothers. Raph shifts uncomfortably, the first time he’s done so.

“You’ve gotta realize that you’re all you’ve got left. The world hates who we are,” Leon reminds them grimly, bluntly. “Family is all you’ve got. It’s all you’ve ever got. Don’t take it for granted. You might lose it.” Another pause. “Besides that, you need to _relax_. You’ve been doing this since you were fifteen, right? How old are you guys now, seventeen? Eighteen? Don’t you think you need a break?”

“A...break?” Donnie asks, glancing at Leo to see his reaction. Leo stares at Leon like he was seeing his counterpart for the first time. “We... we can do that?”

“Um, of course you can! Mental health days are a thing for a reason, babe!” Leon’s taken aback by the actual shock on their faces. “Don’t tell me you guys were planning on fighting for the rest of your lives?”

“We don’t have anything else,” Leo admits quietly. Leon aches for them, he really does. Poor things.

“It’s time to change that, am I right, _hermanos_?” Leon asks his own brothers. “Tonight we’re teaching you guys how to have fun again. We’re going topside tonight, boys. And April.”

“Wh-but shouldn’t we be staying close to the portal - and. It’s _dangerous_ topside, what would we even do? What do you guys even _do_ for fun?”

“Bungee jumping, pouring dishsoap into public fountains, playing pranks on Trumpies, filming TikToks, oh my God? We’ve never pretended to be monkeys in Central Park, we should do that!" Michael starts firing off suggestions on his fingers, unaware of the slightly concerned looks the older versions were giving him. “Central Park lake swimming!” 

“It’s way too late in the year for swimming, but I appreciate your enthusiasm,” Raphael sends a snaggle toothed grin over to his brother. “I’m sure we’ll find something to entertain ourselves with, we always do.”

“Don’t you guys - _patrol_ , or something? Anything?” Casey asks, leaning on his fist. “Or do you just run into trouble randomly? You guys seem pretty laid back about the whole “haha we’re saviors of new york city” entire deal.” 

“Usually trouble finds us,” Leon shrugs nonchalantly. “We’re just irresistible like that.”

Casey snickers. “Sure you are.” Leon fights the rising urge to bend his wrist and send his plate crashing into Casey’s not-that-ugly face. “I’m in. Sounds fun.” Now Leon’s fighting the butterflies rising in his chest. Fuck Casey Jones.

“Fine, whatever. But if we’re going anywhere near humans -

“Quit being paranoid!” Leon tells his counterpart, holding palms up to placate the more...uptight version of himself. “This’ll be the best night ever, babe. Don’t worry your pretty little really circular head.”

“My head isn’t even circular? It’s. More of a sideways oval.”

“Hello! Hello hey hi gang can you hear me? Sorry, y’all, Casey wanted a muffin and then she kinda almost actually beat the worker up, we’re kinda late, but....oh my god, why the fuck is this lair so much bigger than the last one.” A feminine voice cuts off Leon’s retort, and the room goes silent and still. “ _Hellloooooooooooooooooooooo_ \- 

“Maybe they were attacked, died, and are now haunting the lair...spirits of the Hamato house! We come in peace! It is I, Cassandra Jones, and my loyal sidekick, April O’Neil - 

“Bitch, I ain’t your sidekick - 

“Just roll with it!”

“I’ll roll you into a ditch if you aren’t careful.”

“April! Casey! We’re in the living room!” Raphael shouts at the door, and they appear after another second, pausing in the entrance of the room. Leon grins at his two closest girl-friends, and silently watches for their reaction on _their_ counterparts. Finally, the fun can _really_ get started. April and Casey scan the other four brothers, then their eyes trail upwards and stop, trained on the _other_ April and Casey.

“You’re male.” Cassandra says, breaking the silence. Then: “Do you like killing things?” 

“I love killing things!” Casey returns, abandoning his food to turn all of his attention to his female opposite. 

“Bugs? Humans? Demons?”

“All three _and_ more,” Casey boasts. Cassandra slips a hockey stick from around her shoulder and points it at him.

“Hockey?”

“Hockey.”

“Goongala?”

“Goongala!”

“What are they _doing_?” Leo whispers. Leon shushes him. This was too good.

“I fuck with you, Jones,” Cassandra grins, shouldering her hockey stick and crossing the threshold, stepping around the gaping brothers to take a seat next to him. “I can tell we’re gonna be great friends.”

“Oh, same. So, what’s there to beat up around here? I’m only here for like. I don’t know actually I think we have a day left but like -

“Okay, listen up. We, as a unit, have a whole group of idiots that think they run New York city so whenever we see them we go to town -

“They’re best friends. Of course. Of _course_. Goodbye, cruel world,” Donnie tries to stand up and leave, but Mikey, who’s half watching the Casey’s interact and half struggling not to laugh, pulls his older brother back down. April’s watching the April still stationed in the doorway, both of them unwilling to break eye contact, apparently. 

“You’re white,” the April in the doorway says, and the April on the floor nods tiredly. “Why?”

Leon facepalms. “April, you can’t just _ask_ \- 

“Well...hey anyway,” April ignores Leon completely and strides over to her counterpart, who immediately puts her plate to the side, making room for her. “We’re the same person?”

“Yeah, I think so! I love your outfit by the way, it looks amazing.”

“Aww, thanks girl! So - 

“This is the weirdest moment in my entire life. There are just. So many people. And they’re us. You are me!” Michael yells suddenly, pointing at Mikey. “We have the same name! The same family! _YOU ARE MEEEE -_

“I think he’s having an existential crisis,” Leon observes.

“Wow, you think?” His twin remarks dryly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they cant have a normal conversation fight me on it i dare you
> 
> also hi i really don't remember all of the backstories for the splinter's so if i get something wrong or i forgot a crucial detail pop it into a comment and i'll add it in ;)
> 
> night in the city babes i am manifesting it


	6. night in the city

“Okay, gang. Here’s the plan!” Michael hops up on a chair, quieting the entire room immediately as the physically smallest member of all twelve people was thrusted into the spotlight. “Night in the city is _ago_ , which means we’re doing nothing tonight but having fun! If I see _any_ of you frowning I will punch you! Do I make myself clear?”

“He’ll do it, don’t test him,” Raphael warns. Diligently everyone nods their heads, and immediately the threatening look on Michael’s face is replaced with a beam and he leaps onto his oldest brother’s shell, molding himself to Raphael like a very cute, very happy, very tiny leech.

“Let’s go, Leo!” Michael pleads, looking down at Leon.

“Okay, okay, we’re going!” Leon laughs, making the ASL sign for _calm down_ before turning back to their counterparts. “Pretty sure you guys know how to ninja and everything, but with a large group like this it’ll be more difficult to avoid detection. So...be careful.”

“That sounds like something I’d say,” Leo looks over at Leon in what must have been surprise.

“Maybe it’s because we’re the same person, eh?” Leon elbows him, grinning. “Let’s move out!” 

The April’s and the Casey’s and the Donnie’s were all enraptured in their own conversations as they took the lair hallways by storm, with Mikey falling into easy conversation with his own counterpart and the larger Raphael - and Raph leading the pack but staying near enough to overhear. So Leon falls back to his own opposite, who still looks hesitant about the whole thing. “You really don’t get out much, do you?” he says before he can help himself, wincing as Leo’s head snaps up at the intrusive question.

Rather than retorting nastily, Leo sighs, shoulders slumping as they leave the lair, fading into Michael’s neon tags and graffiti that Splinter had let him adorn the outside sewers with. The sun was just starting to go down, the flashes of sunlight poking through the grates up above, putting extravagant shadows up against the wall as they walked. The conversations going on around them can’t completely hide the formlessness in his voice. “Was it really that obvious?”

“Just a bit?” Leon replies apologetically. “I don’t blame you, I mean. Shit sounds like it’s been hard.”

A pause. “Yeah, well. It’s been just as difficult for you, and you’re the most carefree bunch of alternate dimension turtles I’ve ever met. And I’ve seen...what, three sets? By now I’ve lost count. It’s just another Friday at this point,” Leo mumbles. Leon’s mouth goes a bit drier at hearing that there were other _other_ versions of themselves, but figures that’s a question for Donnie. Later. Much later. 

“You blame yourself, don’t you? For your Dad?” Leo openly stares, and Leon shrugs unabashedly. “I know we all blamed ourselves after Karai, especially me - I was the one who was supposed to get her to safety...and she died. She went down protecting us, though, and that’s what keeps me going. I won’t let what happened to her happen to any of them. I can’t.”

“You’re fifteen,” Leo says, voice quiet as he tilts his face away. “On my fifteenth birthday I went to the surface for the first time. I met Shredder, Leo, maybe a couple weeks after that, and the first time he came at me I almost died. I stopped an alien invasion, I sacrificed myself to get my brothers and April to safety. That’s when it started. The tiredness. It started when I was fifteen.”

“Leo - 

He’s not done. “Shredder haunted me for three years. He was ruthless at first, only wanting revenge for Tang Shen - but when we flipped his allies against him he lost it. He was insane, driven solely by hatred, and he took Splinter from us. Not just once. And...to be clear...he wasn’t a good father. He favored me over my brothers, gave me more attention, said it was my ‘destiny’. So much cryptic bullshit, y’know?” he laughs, deprecatingly. “I was the only one who even got a goodbye before he _sacrificed_ himself. He gave me a legacy I couldn’t handle. One I didn’t want.” Leon opens his mouth again to say something to that, but Leo holds a hand up, glancing over at him with intense emotion building behind that gaze. “Don’t let it happen again, okay? Promise me that. Don’t become like us.” 

It’s heartbreaking, the way he says it like they’re all broken and _damaged_. But Leon can hear the plea in his voice and swallows heavily. “I promise,” he says thickly. “But it’s not over for you. For any of you. You act like you’re eighty and about to die. You’ve still got your whole entire life ahead of you, y’know?”

Leo nods slowly, visibly confused. “Yeah, I know? What’s that have to do with - 

“You can overcome this,” Leon urges him quietly. “I know you think you can’t, and you’re just spiraling down and out of control, but all of these things that are ruined - your relationship with your family, fuck, even the fact that you don’t get out and do anything fun and _enjoy_ yourself - that can all change! It’s not a lost cause - you _aren’t_ a lost cause.”

Leo’s quiet, but when Leon glances at him he can see the cogs turning behind his counterpart’s misty blue eyes and hopes at least a couple words got through that thick traumatized head of his. 

-

“What’s it like being twins with _Leo_ , of all people?” Donnie asks curiously, having to slow down because his longer legs gave him a bigger gait compared to the shorter, younger version from this dimension. Donald laughs, a hearty sound that kinda sounded like his own. 

“He’s annoying and I hate him. He’s pushy. Manipulative. Always pretends that we’re the _exact_ same age, even though _I’m_ the older twin. But...he’s my best friend. He yells at me to stop drinking so much coffee, and to get enough sleep, and to spend time with everyone else, and...he’s just really good at things, you know? People call Mikey the feelings guy, and I’d agree with that to an extent...but after Karai, after we lost our home…”

“Leo stepped up?” Donnie guesses, and Donald nods. 

“Before Leo it was Raph. And Raph was a great leader, don’t get me wrong. But Raph chokes up under pressure, or making plans, or thinking in the spur of the moment, and after Shredder Splinter decided Raph needed a break. A long break. So...Leo’s leader, now. I’ve gotta admit it makes sense, though he is insufferable.”

“My Leo’s insufferable too,” Donnie chuckles. “But he’d do anything to keep us safe. So...guess it’s just like that in every universe, amiright?”

Donald looks over at him, and those eyes make Donnie feel almost nervous. “I’ve seen how you look at my brothers. Especially Raph. Is it his size that scares you?”

“Scares me? I’m not _scared_ of him -

“You’re lying,” Donald says automatically, narrowing his eyes. 

“I’m _not_ ,” Donnie snaps, though his heart beats a bit faster in his chest. “I’m not...scared. I was nervous. At first. Because of his size, yeah. And the fact that he’s _Raph_. If you haven’t guessed yet...I don’t have a very good relationship with my Raph.”

“No, I definitely guessed,” Donald states bluntly, eyes finally leaving Donnie and returning to the patchy sewer pavement up ahead. “What’s made him so hostile, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Donnie swallows thickly, wondering if he should chide the kid for being so intrusive with his questions. Donald was strangely perceptive, it was so fucking _unnerving_. “I…” Maybe it’d be _better_ to talk about this? “He was always like that, actually. Since we were kids he’s had serious anger issues, and...us being the way we were, we couldn’t get him diagnosed with what those anger issues actually _mean_ , like depression, anxiety, the works. We couldn’t get him help. Coupled with his and Leo’s stupid fucking rivalry, the constant fighting, the constant _trauma,_ and - fucking _Splinter_ …”

Donald’s silent, and Donnie doesn’t know if that’s a good or bad silent. “Have you ever tried talking to him?”

“About it?” Donnie asks, and Donald nods. “He’d rip my _head_ off, Donnie.”

“I don’t think so?” Donald muses. “Sounds like what he really needs is someone to stop treating him like a ticking time bomb and let him get all this off his chest. Your Leo blamed him for your father’s death, right? Imagine how he _feels_. The guilt, the grief - doesn’t it make sense that he’d react with anger considering his personality?” 

Donnie’s mouth falls open but he quickly closes it. “I-you’re just as antisocial as I am, aren’t you? Staying in your lab, having a coffee addiction, having people yell at you to go to bed - how the hell are you making sense? How do you _know_ all of this - 

“ _Because my family isn’t toxic and I feel safe around them_ ,” Donald cuts him off furiously. “We _listen_ to each other, we actually treat each other with respect. If you take nothing else from this conversation - this entire dimension travel, even - you’ve gotta realize that _this_ \- what you guys are doing to each other might lead you to another war, just like what happened with your Splinter. Your Shredder. Do you understand what I’m implying?”

Donnie thinks of Shredder and his father, of how their relationship went from being brothers to enemies, the anger that took hold of Shredder, the uncontrolled desperation that took hold of Splinter. He wonders, despondently, if what happened to them could be repeated now - maybe with Leo and Raph this time. Donnie shivers, a flash of determination uncoiling inside of him. He will _not_ fight in another war. “Yeah, I do. Thanks, I...I think I needed that.” 

“It’s no issue,” Donald shrugs. “You okay with this?”

“Okay with what?”

“Having my twin parade your family around on a thrilling adventure to get you all to lighten up? Can’t imagine your lot ever doing something like that, I’ve gotta be honest.”

Oh, Donald. Always so fucking _blunt_. “I get it, we’re losers.”

“ _Traumatized_ losers,” Donald smirks, continuing on when Donnie opens his mouth to retort. “But it’s fine. After tonight...maybe we can fix the ‘loser’ part.”

Donnie loses the retort, mouth falling closed, and he decides that yeah, maybe he’d really like that.

-

“Donnie had a crush on _you_?” April’s gobsmacked, mouth falling open as she struggles to comprehend how really _wrong_ that sounded. Not because it was a mutant turtle, not because it was _Donnie_ , even - just the fact that they had a brother-sister relationship and April herself was a fucking _lesbian_ , Christ. 

April’s opposite - the white girl with the long, long, _long_ ginger hair and the gorgeous blue eyes nodded weakly, pushing her bangs away as she figured out how to reply. “Key word is ‘had’. It’s whatever, obviously - he was fifteen, we were kids. And I was the first girl he’d ever seen. S’not like he can get out much.”

“But still - _Donnie_?” April repeats, knowing she should probably get that incredulous note out of her voice before her counterpart really got the wrong idea. “Girl - I. Did you like him back?” 

“No,” she says quickly. “I thought I did, for a long time. But with him, and then Casey - god, I couldn’t handle being the third point in the stupid love triangle we had going on. Drove me wild, and not in the good way. I talked it all out with both of them. We’re fine with staying close friends.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I adore Donnie. I really do. I just...can’t see myself _ever_ dating him, even if I didn’t like girls. He’s like a little brother. _All_ of them are.”

“Exactly!” she exclaims. “They’re just... family, at this point. I think I’ve been through too much with them to ever even consider _dating_ one of them, y’know? S’just...yeah. No. Yikes.”

“Glad we think the same way,” April tugs a pigtail, flashing a mischievous look at her double, who, besides the hair color and obvious difference of skin tones, might be more similar to her than she originally thought. “So...who _do_ you like? Anyone back in your world?”

“Shinigami,” her ginger counterpart replies immediately. “I don’t think you know her, considering she’s Karai’s friend from Japan. Er - I told you that Karai is the turtles’ sister back where I come from, right? Not their great by a thousand grandparent.”

“Right. So you like her _friend_?” April repeats slowly, excitement building in her stomach. This O’Neil wasn’t hetero, either? “What sexuality are you, again?”

“I’m pan,” she says confidently, which April found stunning because! Pan acceptance! And she wasn’t straight! Thank the Lord! “And yeah, I do. Wanna see a pic from Halloween?”

“Um, hell yeah!” April inches to the right so she could see more clearly as the other April fishes her phone out of her yellow sweatshirt pocket, unlocking it quickly before swiping down her gallery, stopping at a picture and clicking into it. It was a picture of both her and a tall, Japanese girl. The girl - Shinigami - had an arm crooked around April’s shoulder, face in carefree excitement and flashing the middle finger with manicured black nails. Her long black hair was in delicate braids down her shoulders with a pair of black cat ears adorning the top of her head - and her makeup was perfectly applied, with long eyelashes and plump lips lathered in black lipstick. “She’s so pretty,” April says, laughing when her counterpart nods vigorously. “Are you guys dating?”

“ _Nooo_ ,” she whines. “I can’t tell her! I don’t know _how_ \- 

“You’ve got this! Listen, when I confessed to Sunita I just...took the bull by the horns. I was fully expecting her to say she wasn’t interested or even into girls but - she _is_. And I would have never figured it out and kept dancing around her because I really wasn’t brave enough to really go through with it...sometimes you just need to be confident and fuckin’ _go_ for it, yeah?” 

“I love you!” her counterpart suddenly hugs her, and giggling, April doesn’t hesitate to hug back. “I needed that so, _so_ much, oh my god - you are so good at giving advice, I’m...holy _fuck_ \- 

“Love you too, bestie,” April pulls away after another moment, and she wags a finger in front of her face. “I’m serious, though. Fuckin' _go_ for it. You guys would be so cute together. Does she like girls, too?” 

“She’s lesbian, but I always thought she liked Karai,” she says as they start to walk again. “I dunno. Ugh, I’m gonna do it. Even if she doesn’t like me back I’ll just get it off my chest. Thanks for this. Can I see Sunita?”

April grabs for her phone quickly. “Oh my god, yeah! Here, wait -

“Are they bonding over their love for girls?” Casey says from up ahead, and twisting, he shouts back at her with a shit-eating grin. “Hey! April, are you gonna tell Shinigami you’ve got the hots for her spankin’ bod - 

Everyone’s conversations falter and they all stop walking, staring back at the two of them with a whole mixture of expressions. “Shut the _fuck_ up, Jones,” April’s counterpart shouts back, face almost as red as her hair. “No need to tell the entire sewer system - my god, I’m going to kill you -

“Bitch, you can’t kill shit - 

“Okay, wait three seconds, I’ve gotta commit a homicide,” she says to April, and April, giggling, watches as she fucking _runs_ at Casey - who yelps and tries to sprint away.

“Not the hair not the hair not the hair not the hair oh my god April no listen I’m sorry I’m sorry get off get off _get off_ April April _noooOOOO OWWWW!”_ Casey yells as she takes a running leap and latches herself to his back, yanking on his hair with her pale, nimble fingers. He goes spinning in a circle and smacks into the wall. “I’m sorryyyy I take it backkkk -

“ _Die_ ,” April's counterpart yells, pulling on his ear. The noise pulled from his lips is both hilarious and sad, considering he’s an adult male and not a prepubescent little girl. April takes a few steps forward and finds herself next to Cassandra.

“They’re so crazy, aren’t they?” April asks as they stare at their counterparts, both wheezing and screaming at this point. Cassandra side-eyes her and they both start laughing. 

-

Once April and Casey have both thankfully calmed down, Michael glances back over at Leon, who’s eyes are latched on Casey like a cat staring at a laser. “ _Fuckkkk, Raphhh_ , Leo likes their Casey, Raph _hellllpppp_ \- 

“Shh, let Leon have a crush, what’s the big deal?” Raphael glances up at him, and Michael pouts. 

“I don’t like Casey, he trashed our kitchen this morning,” he whines, and Raphael chuckles. 

“Leo trashed our kitchen this morning too,” he reminds his youngest, and Michael just pouts harder. “Do you really have an issue with Leo liking Casey?”

“No, besides the fact that Casey ruined surprise breakfast and called me a noodlehead,” he grumbles, turning over on Raphael’s shell so his face was smashed against one of the spikes. “...Or the fact that they’re all going home tomorrow and Leo’s gonna come to me and complain that he’s a gay depressed ninja turtle who’s gonna get nowhere in life and die alone _because_ he’s a gay depressed ninja turtle - 

“Leo’s gay in this universe?” Mikey asks, and both Michael and Raphael glance over at him in surprise. “Wow.”

“What - you’ve got a problem with that?” Raphael asks, forever fiercely protective over his younger siblings. Mikey shakes his head quickly.

“‘Course not! Just...surprised, that he’s so open with it. My Leo’s a closed book about shit like sexuality.” 

“That’s not surprising,” Michael glances over to Leo and Leon again, easily spotting differences between them just by how they walked and carried themselves. Leon’s more fluid, graceful, suave - and Leo’s almost stiff, walking like he expected danger around every corner. “D’you think he’s gay, too?” 

“Leo? Nah,” Mikey says. “Maybe bi, but definately not gay. He mooned over Karai for _months_ before we found out she was our sister.”

“He...had a crush on his sister?” Raphael asks disbelievingly.

“I know, it’s gross,” Mikey shivers violently. “He gets mad at us everytime we bring it up, too. But we had no idea, and...not making excuses for it, but she was the second person outside the family we’ve ever met, right after April. So…”

“Gotcha. Ninja turtle jazz.” 

“And you?” Michael asks, leaning over Raphael’s shell to stare down at his freckled counterpart. “What’s your sexuality, babe?”

Mikey hesitates, looking up ahead at Raph and then back, over his shoulder, to look at his other siblings and April/Casey. “I haven’t come out yet,” Mikey says, a lot more quietly. “But I’m pan.”

“Shut up, me too!” Michael exclaims, reaching down to bump fists with his counterpart. Mikey, suddenly beaming, meets the fistbump happily. “And you should - come out, I mean. Your fam doesn’t sound like they’d have a problem with it.”

“They wouldn’t,” Mikey says quickly. “Donnie’s bi, Casey’s bi and demi. April’s also pan, and I know for sure Leo and,” Mikey points up at Raph, who was up farther ahead, now examining a washed out newspaper, “...aren’t straight. S’just...after Splinter and everything…”

“Yeah, that’s gotta put a damper on things,” Raphael says sympathetically, patting Mikey’s shell gently. “It’ll be fine, Mike. Promise.”

Mikey grins up at him and is about to say something in return when Leon claps his hands and speaks up. “'Kay-kay, sexies! We’re here!”

Dead silence part one-thousand. “We are?” Mikey asks. Just then he spots the ladder. “Oh. We are.”

“Fall in, gang,” Leon instructs, skipping over to the rusty ladder and taking the rungs up quickly. Dutifully they fall in behind, pushing the manhole cover back on top once they’re all out, Leon grunting slightly at how heavy the thing is. Michael knows _exactly_ where they are, and looks over the fading light from the New York city-line to the basketball courts, all thankfully abandoned with plenty of space for all twelve of them. “You guys ever play basketball before?”

“Uh...we’ve seen it on T.V, but...no, we’ve never played,” Donnie seems to know where this is going and exchanges looks with his oldest sibling, who’s suddenly more interested in this whole night-in-the-city idea. “Don’t tell me we’re going to play?”

“Oh, we’re going to play,” Leon holds a curled hand to his chest and walks backwards across the street from the alley, suddenly twirling a basketball with his other hand. Where the hell did he _get_ that from? “Six on six, right here, right now.” 

“I’m in!” April agrees excitedly while her counterpart cracks her knuckles together in preparation. “Let’s do this!”

“This is going to be so violent,” Michael whines to Donald as they follow the horde across the street, who’s groaning, pulling his purple hoodie up over his head. “I bet they’re super competitive.”

“They’ve also never played basketball before, so I bet even Dee’s better than them,” Leon jabs his twin in the side, and Donald makes a pitchy noise, lacing his squirming fingers together so he didn’t wrap them around Leon’s meaty ass throat. “Come on, babes, this is gonna be a walk in the park!” 

“We need cool music in the background while we duel this shit out!” Casey yells. “Who the fuck here has Spotify premium?” 

-

Donnie laughs, almost floating as he dodges around Cassandra and passes the ball to Raph. “You still think this is a walk in the park?” he shouts over at Leon, who sticks his tongue out and turns his nose up. Raph takes the shot, misses, but Mikey thankfully snatches it before his counterpart could and lands the layup. The other-dimension kids cheer as Mikey lands and his red-banded brother sends him a high-five. The ball bounces out of bounds and everyone pauses. “Who’s winning?” Donnie asks Casey, who furrows his eyebrows in concentration.

“I think we are?” he asks more than tells. “Who’s winning!” he yells at everyone, and gets a mixture of responses in return. “Yeah, we are.”

“Thanks,” Donnie says dryly, and Casey cuffs him around the head affectionately. Donnie feels the adrenaline rush through his body and grins, feeling happier than he’s been in weeks as he leaps after Casey, trying to grind his knuckle against his friends’ thick skull. Casey screams, dodging, and Donnie chases him back towards the huddle. “Wait, don’t start yet, I’ve gotta kill him -

“Can we all make a collective agreement to stop deciding to kill Casey!” Casey whines as he tries to take shelter behind Raphael. “Protect _meee_ \- 

“Casey, stop hiding and get over here, we’ve got a game to win,” Leo orders, and reluctantly, Casey slinks away from Raphael to guard his counterpart, eyes narrowing at Donnie. Donnie actually fucking _winks_ and Casey sighs miserably, pulling his headband more firmly against his head and getting into position. Mikey throws the ball back into the court, Donald smacking it out of the air as they get back into the game. April slaps the ball away from _Leo_ \- who took it from Donald - and sprints to the other end of the court.

“Are you sure I can’t use my powers? It’s nowhere in the rules,” Donnie can hear his April ask Leon as they follow her counterpart across the pavement, and smirks at the look that crosses Leon’s face. 

“ _No_ , you can’t use your powers, because one, that’s cheating, and two, it’s not in the rulebooks because you’re the _only_ person on fucking Earth with psychic abilities, and three, that’s _cheating_.”

“You said ‘that’s cheating’ twice.”

“Yeah, well - 

“You’re just struggling to find reasons why I can’t use them, aren’t you.”

“I hate you,” Leon grumbles as April giggles and pats his shell before joining the group that was trying to stop the other April from making the shot. They’ve been playing for almost an entire hour, yelling and insulting and laughing and genuinely just having the best time ever. April manages, somehow, with everyone trying to snatch the ball from her, to make the shot, and the opposite group cheers.

“What’s the score?” Michael asks, and Leon sighs.

“We’re tied right now. 7-7.”

“Whoever gets this next shot wins the game?” Leo asks, grinning, and Leon sighs again, this time in exasperation. Finally he nods.

“Whoever gets this next shot wins the game! Then we get pretzels, capiche?” 

“I like the sound of that! Let’s win this shit,” Raph punches a fist into a hand dramatically. The ball is off again, and Cassandra immediately nabs it. She twists to the side as Raph lunges for the ball, twisting again as Leo lunges from the other side. She leaps up and tries to toss to Donald, who’s standing alone from the rest of the group, patiently waiting for his opportunity to shine, but Donnie, who feels like his his height and gangliness is finally coming to good use, jumps up and snatches the ball from midair, pumping his fist excitedly as he sprints in the opposite direction. 

“Oh, my God - stop him!” Leon screams after him, and the pummeling footsteps do nothing to deter the genius from leaping up into the air, ball poised between both hands as he sails upwards, up towards the hoop. He feels the breeze in his face, everything almost moving in slow motion as he dunks the ball through the hoop, hanging weightlessly on the rim before dropping back down, the ball bouncing down and away harmlessly. 

His family is already screaming as they run towards him, acting like he figured out the secret to world peace instead of just winning a basketball game. Mikey’s the first towards him and nearly barrels him over in excitement. “We won! Oh my _god_ Dee you’re so fucking cool -

“The coolest!” Raph agrees, and before Donnie can even raise his hands, or defend himself from any incoming punch or slap or _anything_ , Raph’s got his arms around him and Mikey both and _squeezing_ , and Leo, April, and Casey join the huddle, lifting Donnie up onto Leo’s shoulders, and Donnie can’t stop fucking _laughing_ as he catches sight of the look on their counterparts’ faces. “Donnie’s the MVP, fuckers!” Raph crows fondly, and Donnie feels warmth in his stomach and thinks, really quietly, that this might be the best night in his entire life. 

“You guys are such sore winners,” Raphael sighs, but he’s got that snaggletoothed grin and he’s probably just relieved to see them all so happy. “Good game!” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Leon waves a hand, dismissing their win like he meant for it all to happen. “I’m hungry! Who wants pretzels before our next endeavor?”

“How are we gonna get pretzels?” Leo asks, still grinning as he squeezes Donnie’s calves and swings his taller brother around. Donnie yelps, giggling, readjusting himself on his brother’s back so he didn’t send them both crashing to the ground. “I mean, we are kinda - y’know, mutants - 

“April, Casey, April, Casey!” Leon points to the four of them. “They are our slaves!”

“I feel like having turtle soup tonight, how about you, Cassie?” Casey asks his counterpart, and they bump fists like the psychopaths they really are. “‘Kay...eleven pretzels...trash from the dumpster for Leon…”

“ _Hey_ \- 

Michael slaps his hands together in a pleading gesture. “If they have jalapeño cheese can you get me some please please pretty please I’ll love you so much pleaseeee - 

“Of course, bud,” Casey rubs his shell soothingly, and Michael preens. Leon sends him a dirty look. “Kay, we’ll be back in a minute. S’just around the corner, right? Where should we meet up?” 

“We’re gonna go rooftop hopping until we find some fountains to tarnish!” Leon forgets being mad at Michael and claps his hands together in excitement. 

“Isn’t that illegal?” 

“Um. Probably! I think it’s only illegal if you get caught, so don’t worry.”

“I feel like I’m in The Office.”

“Shut up and go get our pretzels, peasant.”

-

“Your city is so much more New York than our New York is,” Mikey says conversationally. Other-April - not his April, sends him a curious look, tearing a piece off her pretzel and dipping it into the cheese they were sharing.

“Whaddaya mean?” 

“It’s like...neon. Lots of people. Colorful. Ours is bland and boring and really ugly. I bet you guys have a lot of fun out here,” he says. April scratches under her pigtail and scoots a bit closer to him. 

“Yeah, we do. But it’s not the place that makes it fun, Mike. It’s the people.”

“Yeah,” Mikey’s shoulders slump a bit as he takes a bite from his pretzel, almost forgetting that he was sharing his cheese with April. Fortunately he remembers so and doesn’t double-dip, flipping the bread and shoving the untouched side into the hot cheese. “You guys are awesome, you know that? We just played _basketball_ and this is the best night I’ve ever had. Everyone is so _nice_ to each other here, you all really just...love each other. No wonder you guys are all so mentally stable if this is the kind of life you have.”

“It’s had its ups and downs,” April chides gently, slapping a freckled shoulder softly and chuckling when he suddenly remembers Karai, mouth falling open in a quiet ‘oh’. “But, you know. It’s worth the struggles when you’ve got family. They love you,” she says when he looks away, back over the rooftop where they’ve all stretched out, the two groups intersect. Even the two Raph’s are talking, and it seems they’ve got more in common than Mikey originally thought, from the way Raph’s actually paying attention to the serious tone Raphael’s adopted. “They do. I know you might think you’re stupid, or not enough, but that’s not true. No one thinks that of you, babe.”

“...” Mikey looks back over to April. “How’d you know that? How’d you…”

“Educated guess. Was I right?”

“Yeah.” Mikey looks away again. “How do you make the thoughts go away?” 

“You talk about them,” April shrugs. “I can guess you don’t like that, though. Being the underdog and all.”

“M’afraid that they’d tell me to get over it. I mean, I know I should, but it’s kinda hard. Lot’s a things happened, n’ we just...moved on. Forgot about them. It sucks, ‘Pril. Hate everything, a lot of the time.” 

“Shh, I know. It’s okay,” April slides an arm around him, and Mikey leans into her. “You’re here now, right? Talking to me. You’ve made it. You were strong enough to get to this point, you’re strong enough to lower your defenses and talk about things, too. It doesn’t make you a burden, it doesn’t make you weak.”

“You’re so nice, I dunno what I did to deserve this,” Mikey mumbles sideways into the fabric of her shirt. “I know we barely know each-other, but thank you.”

“Shush. You’re basically family, you don’t needa thank me. Just promise me you’ll try, okay? To talk about it? With _them_?” April pulls away, looking up at him, and Mikey nods reluctantly. 

“I promise,” he says, blue eyes trembling with unshed tears, and then: “Can I have another hug?” 

“Of course you can!” April tugs him back towards her, smiling sadly as he buries his face into her shoulder. And when she feels the moisture on the fabric of her shirt, when they get ready to leave, she lets her hair down from their precarious pigtails so it hides the evidence.

-

“There’s one!” Raph points off the rooftop towards a fountain, all alone with the light poles flickering menacingly, and there’s a chorus of quiet whooping as they take the fire exit down to the street. “Can you believe we’re being actual teenagers for once in our whole lives?” he asks Leo, who’s literally shaking from how nervous he is. Good-boy syndrome has never been a good look on his oldest, and Raph bites his tongue so he doesn’t tell him so.

“If we go to jail I’m blaming you,” is all Leo says in return, and Raph swallows a laugh as they make it to the pavement. Leon pulls dish soap from, again, virtually nowhere. “Where the fuck are you pulling things from? First it was the basketball and now it’s soap. What’s next, a lamborghini?” Leo asks him, and Leon, quite predictably, rolls his eyes.

“Do I look like I’m rich? I live in a poophole,” Leon snarks back before turning his gaze back towards the innocent fountain. “You guys better be filming this shit.”

“‘Troubled turtle cosplayer pours dish soap into an unsuspecting fountain,’” Donald narrates in a deadpan, tired British accent. “Oh, we’re definitely going viral on TikTok.” 

“Just a reminder that I hate all of you so very much,” Casey says. “And I’m recording, by the way.”

“Good lad,” Leon sends him a wink that looks more like a face spasm before walking forward a few paces and gingerly stepping up onto the ledge of the fountain. Then he turns. “I’d like to say a few words.”

“Oh my fucking god,” Donald says, smacking his face into his hands. 

“Stopp I’m scared why’d you guys make _me_ the one in charge of pouring the soap into the fountain!!!” Leon whines. 

“It was your idea, dipshit!” Donald snaps back. 

Leon crosses his arms. “Okay, well. I’m suddenly chickening out. You do it, Donnie-the-almighty-and-powerful,” Leon holds the dish soap out, and sighing miserably, Donald hands his phone off to Michael before stalking up to his twin. Leon obediently hands the soap bottle off to his brother, then steps down and away from the fountain to give Donnie the spotlight. Rolling his eyes, Donald gives Leon the most unimpressed look possible before diligently pouring the entire bottle into the fountain. 

The bubbling water immediately does its job, and quickly the entire fountain overflows with thick, soapy bubbles. “Okay, I fucking did it, it wasn’t even that fucking hard, you are such a little pussy ‘Nardo - waitwait _HELLLPNO_ …!” Donald’s not even able to fully turn around before Leon pushes his twin into the fountain and, cackling, mirthfully watches as his twin goes under the soapy water, swallowing up the softshell turtle immediately. 

“I really hope that wasn’t a gateway to hell!” Leon turns to the silent onlookers, gesturing proudly at the silent fountain. “That’s a two step tutorial on how to kill your twin brother and get away with it - very easy stuff, anyone can repeat! Okay, let's get out of here before he - 

Donald suddenly rises out of the water with a furious expression adorning his features and grabs the back of Leon’s mask tails, pulling his brother in after him, and Leon screams, trying to twist away to no avail. “This was my favorite sweatshirt, you little prick - you better get comfortable because I’m going to kill you! Have fun dying when you choke to death on Dawn Ultra Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray!” he screams and immediately goes to work trying to make good on his deal. 

“Do you think Dee strangling Leo to death will get us reported if we post this on TikTok?” Michael asks seriously, glancing up at Raphael as Leon wails and tries to escape over the side of the fountain but it's proven to fail when his twin drags him back under. “I mean...maybe it’d bring us more views, y’know? It might push the algorithm.”

“You are a _psychopath_.” 

“Only when it comes to Leo and Donnie, Raphie.” 

-

“I think we should go to Draxum’s,” Donald chatters after the gang has forcibly pulled him and Leon away from each other and are deciding where to go next. “Doesn’t he have a fireplace? Or at the very least a fucking hairdryer?”

“Fine with me, he’s actually just around the corner,” April points down the darkened street. “‘Course, y’all are gonna have to be super fuckin’ quiet because my family literally lives right under. Our good friend. The giant sheephorn yokai. So that means no jokes. No stomping. Zilch. Nada.”

Mikey shudders, though it could have been from the cold or the apprehension of meeting Draxum.

“Oh, I can’t _wait_ to meet Splinter’s homicidal boyfriend,” Raph states sarcastically as they all pull themselves to their feet and start the short trek towards April’s apartment complex. It’s silent for a couple beats before they decide to take a shortcut through an alleyway and come face to face with - 

“Nooo anything besides Warren Stone and his gay hippo mutant boyfriend!” Leon wails dramatically as they all round the corner and are startled into stopping by the hippo and worm yokai. “Good to see you guys again, really. Glad y'all didn't perish when Shredder took over. Anyway this was fun but can y’all move out of the way me n’ Dee are fucking wetter than the Nile River and I would really just like to get the soap out of my nose -

“The turtles!” Warren Stone bellows angrily, knocking Leon into silence. “And...wait, why are there so many of you?”

“We’re recruiting our secret army to spawn Satan, duh,” Donald rolls his eyes. “Please, we literally have no time for this. Go find some other alley to kiss in, we’re using this one.”

“Are they your guys’ villains?” Leon hears Leo ask Raphael, who gives a minuscule nod of confirmation. “They’re lame,” Leo says, and Leon’s oldest brother hesitates, then nods again in agreement. “Really lame.” 

“Who are you calling lame, buster? I am Warren Stone, and - 

“Do you want me to step on you.” Leon gazes down at the worm. “I will fucking step on you.”

Hypno-whatever the fuck his name was Leon’s honestly forgotten his stupid villain name has finally had enough of being left out of the conversation. “No one is stepping on anyone here! I will hypnotize you all so you’ll be locked in my labyrinth of infinite choices and dangerous deeds and -

“I’m _cold_ ,” Donald whines, cutting the hippo yokai off. “Should we just go around?”

“No that’ll take too long.”

“I’m so fucking tired of the angsty villain dialogue oh my god I’m giving you all two point five seconds to get out of the way before I take my twin’s sword and send you both to the Bermuda Triangle,” Donald says. No one moves and Donald sighs very tiredly. “Leon give me your sword.” Leon sends him a confused look, and Donald gestures expansively at his sword.

“No need, babe. I’ll do it.” Leon pulls the sword from off his back, raising it threateningly. The two yokai immediately make panicked noises, raising their hands up in protest.

"Y'know, two against twelve _and_ a portal-making sword doesn't actually sound so great tonight, I think we'll just go? Nice to catch up though we should totally do it some other time! Come on Ron let's go -" And with that both yokai march past them out onto the street, quickly disappearing from view. The twins, laughing, high-three, Leon replacing his sword back into his holster around his shell with a mischievous grin.

“Your sword can make _portals_ that is so cool!” Leo says incredulously as everyone collectively moves through the alleyway. “Mine are just regular old katana blades.”

“Not anymore, Shredder broke all our mystic weapons when he had his weird episode and went off the walls so these are just normal remakes. It's cool, though, 'cause our villains still think they work in situations like these. And you can blame Draxum for having the super cool mystic weapons. Raph had powerful mystic tonfas, Mikey had the screaming kusarigama. Donnie’s just got his regular tech bo that he made from scratch. It’s super lame and _not_ mystic, but Shredder broke it anyway. He rebuilt it, obviously.”

“My bo is literally cooler than all of your weapons put together?” Donald pulls his weapon from his saddle around his back. “It’s waterproof. It has like ten different weapons inside. Also it plays sick boss music when I’m in the middle of battle, so. Obviously you guys can’t compare.” 

“Can I maybe get the blueprints for your tech bo?” Donnie asks hopefully, and Donald gives him a finger gun.

“Anything for my very best friend.”

“Okay, we’re here. Everyone shut up,” April waves a hand at them all, and obediently they all quieten, pushing through the doors and taking the stairs up three at a time. Twelve people shouldn’t be able to be so quiet, but they manage, making it up the levels without barely any noise at all. “Draxum,” April knocks on the door when they approach. “ _Barry_ , open the door, I know you’re awake,” April knocks harder, and they hear grumbling from the other end of the door. “Actually, I didn’t know he was awake, but it’s good that he was. We’d have to break in if he actually was asleep.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Michael murmurs.

“No wonder he hates you, Christ." Raph remarks, and Leon pokes a tounge out at him. A second later the door opens, and a very sleep deprived mutant sheep yokai blinks back at them. 

_“Heyyyyy_ bestie!” Leon leans on the door frame. “Mind if we stop by and freshen up?” 

“Why do you smell like Dawn Ultra Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray?” Is Draxum’s first question, already looking like he really didn’t want to know the answer.

“Oh, you know. Homicide by dish soap. It’s really quite fascinating, the amount of suds that managed to make it up my nose. Here, d’you wanna see - 

“No!” Draxum nearly shouts, lowering his voice drastically as his eyes jump between every new arrival bewilderingly. Finally he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose and looking so tired with life. “Thirty minutes. You have _thirty_ minutes. Then I throw you back into the hallway.”

“D’aww, you’re too sweet,” Leon gushes, marching in. “Aren’t you gonna ask?”

“About what?” Draxum asks despairingly as he holds the door wider, letting everyone file in after Leon.

“ _T_ _he other set of people that strangely look familiar? The ones you’re literally letting into your household_?”

“Honestly, do I really want to know?”

“Um, I’d think so?”

“Twenty nine minutes, Leonardo.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why did i write so much i have mental issues
> 
> this is split into two parts because it is so long what is WRONG WITH MSKLFJEE
> 
> anyway hey gang


	7. night in the city part dos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall said u wanted draxum interactions and i really went the extra mile huh
> 
> jesus fucking christ lmfao who else is scared

“My Spotify isn’t _working_ , Drax,” Leon complains, all spread out in front of the fire, hoarding the warmth. He and his twin had fought long and hard over who was more qualified to occupy the area instead of sharing it like normal fucking people - and Leon had won, despite the many well-placed hits from Donald’s bo. “Why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe it’s because you downloaded the cracked version from fucking Google instead of letting your genius brother hack the premium version for you?” Donald spits blithely from the bathroom, glaring at him through the open door.

“I didn’t _ask_ you, Donnie. I asked Draxum,” Leon purrs, giving up on his phone and shooting his twin a self-satisfied smirk as he propped his chin up on his hands. 

“Shut the fuck up,” Donald seethes, starting the hairdryer. “I hate you.”

“Yeah, well, you can hate him from inside the bathroom, Dee. That shit is loud. Close the door,” Raphael closes the door despite Donald’s protests. “Don’t you start, Leo,” he points threateningly at Leon as the slider opens his mouth to make another _awesome_ (not) one-liner. “Just sit there and dry off. This is literally all your fault, ‘nyways.”

“I’m surprised you’ve got so much power over them,” Leo crosses his arms as his counterpart grumbles and rolls over, facing the fire. “Especially since he’s leader.”

“Being the oldest has its advantages,” Raphael admits, and high-threes Leo enthusiastically when the palm is offered. 

“You fought _what_?” Draxum shouts suddenly, causing everyone to look at him. Raph nods, confirming what he’d apparently just said.

“Triceratons. They were from outer space - I dunno why y’all are so surprised, you’ve fought a five-hundred year old demon _and_ you’ve got magic slash mystic bullshit _and_ a whole ass hidden city underneath New York...but suddenly _aliens_ are an issue? Have you met _yourself_?”

“Are you insinuating that just because I am a mutant humanoid sheephorn I cannot be shocked that extraterrestrial life exists?”

Raph pauses, works that over, then nods. “Yeah. That’s exactly what I’m insinuating.” Then he glances sideways at Donnie. “What does insinuating mean again?”

Sighing, Donnie buries his face into his hands and groans. Mikey rubs his shell and leans back against the couch, sending a conflicting look towards Draxum. “S’ been a bit since we’ve seen a dictionary.”

“Assuming you bunch don’t read much either - forgive me, would that be too much of an understatement?” Draxum crosses his arms thoughtfully. "Is the only intelligent one of your family Donatello from where you come from? Like it is here?" he states bluntly, completely missing how everyone - otherworldly or not - stiffens at the almost condescending attitude.

“Well, Donnie's a freakin’ genius and has an IQ of like. I dunno. 190? He’s smarter than Einstein, so I really think that _nobody_ in this room, 'sides the other Dee in the bathroom, could be up to par with him - 

“Stop it, I’m so embarrassed,” Donnie mumbles, face still buried in his hands. Mikey slaps his shell lightly.

“Quit interrupting, dipshit. Anyway, we’ve been a bit too _busy_ to attend high-school-for-mutants, you get what I’m saying? Considering we’ve been invaded more times in three years than the amount of fingers you’ve got on both hands, I wouldn’t be talking. We might not be the smartest, but I can list fifteen different ways to kill you just with the objects in this room.”

The occupants in the room all freeze at that sentence and it's implications, Donnie slowly raising his head out of his olive green hands to stare at his usually kind, lighthearted brother. Mikey shrugs, not remorseful in the slightest as he removes the hand from Donnie’s shell to scratch at his freckled neck. “Oops, _sorry_ , was that a bit too loud for your taste? Or an understatement, like you said?”

“Is there something you’d like to say to me?” Draxum narrows his thick, bushy eyebrows, and Mikey snorts. 

“Something I’d like to say? Oh, _is there_.” Mikey sits forward, planting both feet on the carpeted floor and raising his own eyeridges in retaliation. “I should have made it a bit clearer earlier, then. I don’t trust you. And with your annoying-ass, superior attitude, I don’t think I _like_ you very much, either.”

The room is still deathly silent, but Mikey doesn’t give anyone - least of all Draxum - a chance to jump in and steer the conversation towards safer waters. “Earlier today Leon over there told us, in detail, actually, what you did to their father. What you did for _years_ , experimenting on innocent humans like - like _what_ , you actually thought they’d turn around and go to war with your paranoid ass? Most of them don't even know you exist - you - you ignorant fucking -”

April - the white April - tries to break in. “Mikey, you can’t just - 

“Can’t what? Call him out on his bullshit? Fuck that, I’m not gonna sit here and let him talk down to us when he’s the whole fucking reason Shredder came back in the first place! He brought him back with the dark armor, right? He’s partially the reason Karai is _dead_ in this universe - _no_ , if no one else is gonna say it then I’m gonna,” Mikey leans forward even farther, really driving the ball home with this one. “My fucking counterpart gave you this family. He, time and time again, has given you chances you didn’t deserve because he thought that there was still good in you. Because you’re his other ‘father’.” Mikey laughs, but there’s absolutely no humor in it. 

“I’ve fought people just like you. Loads of em’, actually, who thought they were the whole ass _shit_ until my brothers and my friends put them in their place. The people here - the people in this universe - they _forgave_ you when they didn’t need to, y’know? They’re the one good thing in your pathetic little life and you don’t even have the common decency to fucking _apologize_ to them. Let me tell you something, _Barry_ ,” Mikey’s voice drops into a deadly serious tone, the kind you’d hear and _have_ to pay attention to, no matter the atmosphere. “Show them you’ve changed or get the _fuck_ out of their lives. They deserve better than that, don’t you think?”

Mikey stands without waiting for Draxum’s reply, stalking past the gobsmacked group and slamming the hallway door behind him. Donnie stares, blankly, at the couch spot Mikey had just abandoned. “Did he actually -

“Holy shit,” Raph whispers, not daring to look at Draxum. In a louder voice he manages a shocked: “I’ll go after him.”

“Yeah,” Leo agrees. “Donnie, you too. Come on. It’s time we really _talked_.”

Mikey’s older brothers make for the door as the hairdryer stops, and Donald steps out of the bathroom, humming something that sounded suspiciously like Dear Evan Hansen under his breath. “...What’d I miss?” he says quietly, quickly taking in the looks on their faces. 

-

Mikey’s at the stairway, looking down the stairs like he was actually considering bolting. He glances over his shoulder at the noise the door makes when Leo closes it and frowns. “If you’ve come out here to call me stupid, fucking forget it. I’m serious. I meant every word I said in there and I’m not taking it back - 

“Mikey, you aren’t being stupid. I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but yeah. Yeah. I agree with you. It was a good message, but - 

“Poor execution, right?” Mikey finishes Leo’s sentence weakly, and Leo chuckles, nodding. “Figured.”

“What’s with you, Mike? You’ve been acting so - well, _docile_ , the entire night. What happened?” Donnie examines Mikey as he steps away from the stairs, noticing no physical difference besides the fact that Mikey was unsubtle as he dug his nails into his skin. “Stop doing that, you’re gonna make yourself bleed,” he chides gently, reaching for the arm and entangling their hands together. Mikey doesn’t struggle, just slowly blinks at the intimacy, and to his brothers’ surprise, his eyes start to well up.

“He reminds me of Shredder - of _our_ Shredder - y’know? All angry and unfeeling and - and I got angry, really really fucking angry, and I try n-not to do that ‘cause it’s kinda _my_ thing to be positive and shit but I kept getting this nagging feeling that if I didn’t - if I didn’t call him out on it the same thing that happened to us would happen to them and I -

“Oh, Mikey…” Leo sighs, stepping forward and hugging his youngest, and Mikey starts crying, not letting go of Donnie’s hand but curling his free arm around Leo’s neck, leaning his forehead into the front of Leo’s shell. “You -

“They’re just...so fucking _naive_ , yeah? ‘Specially me, I mean _other_ me, he just let him back into their lives and it’s something that I would do! It’s something I _would_ have done, back when we were fifteen and Karai - when she - I was so excited to have a sister - and I know she’s a part of us now but - I - I just don’t want it to happen again - ‘cause - and _Splinter_ \- 

“Shh, breathe, it’s okay,” Raph takes Mikey’s free side as Mikey really starts crying. “Fuck, Mike…”

“You did what you thought - what you _knew_ \- was right. But who are you to talk about someone else when our family is just as fucked up as he is?” Donnie leans his forehead against the side of Mikey's, taking his other hand and pulling Raph into probably the most awkward embrace to ever exist. “We’re definitely not getting the family of the year award, guys.” 

Mikey laughs against Leo’s chest, warbly and quiet and it makes Leo smile sadly. “Maybe we should work on that. Getting better,” Raph mumbles so quietly they almost miss it. “I’m tired of fightin’ with you guys.”

“Me, too.” Donnie says while Leo and Mikey make similar noises of agreement. “Do you think it’s too late for us?”

“No,” Leo shakes his head confidently. “I really think we’ll be okay. And I think, Mike, after the wake-up call you just gave them - they’ll be okay, too.”

“What?” Mikey hesitantly pulls away, training his gorgeous blue eyes on his brother. The same eyes that were seemingly so innocent, but held years of pain and trauma and regret. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it,” Leo says. “You just gave Draxum something to think about. And our counterparts, too. If Draxum doesn’t show any progress do you really think they’ll put up with it? They may be naive, but remember - they’re _us_.”

“Yeah,” Mikey sniffles, brushing away any wayward tears. “I just...I wanna go home. Really bad. M’so _tired_. And I feel like Dad’s death just...happened _again_ , y’know? It’s hard, being in this place where they, like, I know they’ve gone through shit, but they’ve still got that - that _hope,_ and - 

“Innocence?” Donnie guesses, and Mikey nods slowly. “They haven’t had to grow up like we have, Mike. Hopefully they’ll never have to.” Donnie doesn’t let that happy thought sink in for long, though, quickly following up with a murmured “Sorry.”

“What for?”

“Just...for being in the lab. Pretending what happened to us wasn’t a big issue. Pretending we were okay.” 

“M’sorry, too. For lashing out so much. At all of you. I love you guys, I don’t say it as much as I fuckin’ should, but I do,” Raph closes his eyes, tilting his face downwards at the silence. “I’m sappy as fuck, aren’t I?”

“Fuck the toxic masculinity we’ve established, I love you guys too,” Mikey giggles, voice still shaky and broken. “Even though I’m pretty stupid since I’m not booksmart, 'ccording to Draxum.”

“Fuck Draxum,” Donnie says firmly. “You aren’t stupid. None of you are. You’re all plenty smart in your own way, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about any of you."

“Don’t you wish we had an IQ as high as yours, though?” Donnie can _hear_ the smirk in Leo’s voice and nearly smacks him upside the head.

“Oh, shut up. There can only be _one_ genius in the family,” Donnie mutters in annoyance to their collective laughter. When they’ve cooled down and all pulled away from each other, still smiling and looking better then they'd been a few minutes earlier, Donnie glances down to Mikey, who's more relaxed. Not as tense, not considering ditching. “Wanna go back in?” 

“No,” Mikey says, immediately looking apprehensive. “Do I have to?”

“ _No_ ,” his brothers quickly replied, clearly not wanting to go back into that environment. “Let’s just go wait on the roof until they’re done, I don’t think I ever wanna see Draxum again,” Leo glances towards Draxum’s apartment door before quickly turning back towards his family. “Everyone cool with that?”

“Fuck yeah,” Raph grins.

-

“‘Kay, I’d usually step in to defend you, but I _kinda_ lowkey agreed with him. You _haven’t_ apologized for the loads of shit you did - including trying to kill us for fucking months. We let you back into our lives because of Mikey - because he’s got the biggest heart and sees the good in everyone, including you. So. I don’t think you’re nonredeemable, I really don’t - but you’ve gotta realize that this shit doesn’t fly. Not with us, not anymore,” Leon states, crossing his arms and staring Draxum down. "Throwing me off a goddamn building would be a great place to start, by the way."

“Hypocritical, for someone who was just laying in front of my fireplace. Hypocritical, for someone who came to me for help thirty minutes ago - hypocritical, because the only reason Splinter raised you four was _because_ of me-!” Draxum roars, and begins to take a step towards Leon, but Michael steps in front of him, rendering him speechless at the _fury_ in his eyes.

“You don’t _talk_ to him - to _anyone_ like that! I trusted you - I _trusted_ you, I wanted you in our lives because I thought you were our family, I!” Michael cuts himself off as his eyes fill with thick tears. “I thought, that one day, you and Pops - that you’d both - 

Draxum stares down at him, silent as he finishes Michael's heartbroken sentence in his head, and Donald slowly reaches forward to pull his youngest away. “Get _offa_ me, Dee!” Michael snaps, twisting out of his grip and returning his angry gaze up at his supposed father figure. “He was right, wasn’t he? You really haven’t changed at all, have you - you - oh, _god_ , what have I done?” 

“Michelangelo…” Draxum slowly reaches for him, but Michael slaps his hand away. 

“He was right. It was a mistake - you didn’t care about us, about Dad - you were only there because I forced you to be, right? Because I wanted a perfect family so bad, I…” he turns away. “I’m leaving. I can’t be here, not right now.” 

With a dejected expression, Draxum watches as they file out. Raphael’s the last one in the room, hesitating at the door before turning back to face him. “We’ve grown to care about you, Draxum,” the snapping turtle says, quietly. “But what - what the other Mikey said - I just...I think we need to learn how to forgive you, first.”

The door clicks shut behind him as he makes his departure, leaving Draxum in a very, very empty apartment but an even emptier heart as the only people who have ever cared about him disappear out of his life. 

-

As soon as they've all met up again Michael leaps at Mikey, latching himself to his older counterpart like a koala and sobbing into his neck. “You were _right_ you were so right I was so stupid I was _so_ stupid - 

“Shh, it’s okay you weren’t stupid at all, babe, you just gave someone a chance to be in your life and - and he’s jus' gotta work to stay in it, okay? God, don’t cry, it’ll be okay, alright? Don’t - please - you aren’t stupid. You aren’t -

“I am, I was so stupid and - 

“You _weren’t_ ,” Mikey pulls his younger counterpart away and knocks their foreheads together affectionately. “You have a good heart, that doesn’t make you stupid. That makes you someone who’s willing to forgive. Even the people who don’t deserve it, yeah? You - listen,” Mikey grins toothily, leaning in. “You’re me, and I’m you, right? Would you call _me_ stupid?”

“N-no, but -

“Exactly! The Mikey’s of every universe are the funniest, sweetest people with the biggest hearts! Don’t mind if I honk my own horn just a tad, babe,” Mikey winks and Michael giggles, tears still leaking out of his eyes. “C’mere,” Mikey pulls him back into a hug, the kind where you completely envelop the other person and bury your face into their neck, relinquishing all the control over your body to the other participant. “You’re a good person, ‘Angelo. I mean that. I wish I was like you when I was younger - hell, I wish I was like you now.”

“Y-you do? But I made a really big mistake - 

“Everyone makes mistakes, Mikey,” a Donnie says from outside their little bubble - which Donnie it was they weren’t certain. “Depends on how they use their mistakes to grow from and - 

“Really, Donnie? You’re gonna pull the philosophical shit on us right now? We’re having a moment,” Mikey sighs, fake annoyance dripping from his voice, and Michael laughs this time, a real laugh. “There you are,” Mikey smiles against his dark green skin. “You gonna be okay, bud?”

“...Yeah,” Michael slowly pulls away from the hug, scrubbing at his tears. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” the entire roof says, causing Michael to jump - he’d nearly forgotten he was breaking down in front of eleven other people. Everyone looks at each other, breaking into quiet laughter. “Oh, that’s one for the books,” Leon’s laughter tapes off into a squeal as he deftly dodges his twin's shoulder punch. “Well, this was...interesting,” he winces, probably internally smacking himself for his choice of words. “Think we can still save our nightly outing?”

“We can show ‘em the Lou Jitsu movies?” Cassandra says, squatting besides Michael and slowly rubbing his shell. “They haven’t seen any of ‘em, y’know. Coming from a different dimension n’ all.”

“Let’s just go back home, I don't care what we do.” Michael says softly, leaning into Cassandra. “I just don’t wanna be anywhere near here.” 

-

“Why is Lou Jitsu hot,” Casey states as he gazes up at the screen. “He is so sexy. He’s so sexy this man is legit _packing_.”

“I fucking hate you,” Leon throws a pillow at him from across the room. Casey thwacks it out of the air and sticks it under his neck, effectively making a bigger pillow nest for himself.

“Oh, come on! Don’t you think he’s sexy?’ Casey glances at his April - her counterpart, and his own counterpart. “Don’t answer that, brothers - that is _incest_ and kinda highkey scary. But you guys - 

“I’m lesbian,” April and Cassandra remind him at the same time.

Casey glares at them. “Okay, but let’s just say you, _hypothetically_ , were into men -

“That’s legit impossible, men are so weird,” April says, her curly hair falling down her shoulders as she leans against Cassandra. “Like, ew. Abs and sweaty bodies?”

“Abs and sweaty bodies are actually sexy?” 

“Leon you’re fifteen - go do your pre-algebra homework or something.” April says. Leon flips her off like the absolute child he really is.

“I’m a ninja turtle I have no time for math homework.”

“Can you all shut up we’re literally missing the movie,” Donald chimes in from the beanbag he’d stolen from Leon - payback for earlier. Leon throws his other pillow at him, leaving him pillowless. 

“April,” Casey elbows his best friend. “Do you find Lou Jitsu sexy?” 

“He kinda looks like you, actually. So no.”

“Is that a compliment or not I’m really confused.”

“Did you just say Casey looks like _Lou Jitsu_? How dare you insult Lou like that?” Leon shouts from the other side of the room.

“Stop fucking eavesdropping you midget I’m asking April some life-or-death questions. Anyway April what do you mean he looks like me are you saying I’m sexy - 

“No. Actually I changed my mind Casey you look nothing like him. I’m serious here you don’t have abs or sweet sexy hair. Also you have a tooth gap. So. Yeah, I find Lou sexy.” 

“Can we watch Space Heroes so they stop arguing?” Leo sighs from the couch, legs tossed haphazardly over Mikey’s own legs, pinning his brother - who was slowly dropping off - to the couch. Raph sends him an annoyed glare from the couch he was sharing with Donnie.

“No, first of all Space Heroes doesn’t exist here, which - thanking my lucky stars it doesn’t, honestly - second of all, it’s such a lame fucking show - 

“What’s Space Heroes?” Raphael asks curiously from his place nearest the projector. 

Donnie groans in exasperation. “Oh my god, _Raph_ \- you - you did _not_ just ask that. Well. It’s _your_ funeral -

“Okay, so Space Heroes is basically like a spoof of the old show Star Trek, right? It’s got these different characters and villains, right, and the leader - Captain Ryan - oh, he is such a _man_ \- he’s the coolest and bravest captain ever and - 

“Leo you fucking nerd please I’m begging you. Please stop talking.”

Michael sighs, the conversations from the different families - which all sorta molded into one at this point - washed over his head. He glances up at the projector, Lou Jitsu’s monologue and dramatic fighting inaudible over the loud voices from Michael’s brothers/friends and their counterparts. “Lou Jitsu _help_ me,” he says softly, jumping when his father’s tail smacks him lightly on the head.

“You called,” Splinter beams. 

"That's not what I meant and you _know_ it," Michael pouts. Splinter laughs, falling back into his armchair.

"It was still humorous, no?"

" _No_ , Dad," Michael rolls his eyes, but he can't keep the smile off his face at his father's laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mikey telling draxum off came to me when i was running my nightly jog and i think it might have been my best writing decision of this entire fic!
> 
> psa i love draxum's character but can we please stop pushing the whole 'gay furry baby' narrative the guy is literally a war criminal who not only tried to kill the boys for an entire ass season...but also had no remorse for his incredibly shitty actions!! and i really wish the whole fandom would acknowledge it insteada pushin it under the rug ;) 
> 
> before yall say anything about casey...of course she was a villain and she's probably done some pretty shitty things. but her actions in the finale make up for her incredibly complicated arc (she literally turned on shredder and saved splinter's life) and i can't say the same thing for draxum lmfao @rise-crew give draxum a redemption arc but do it RIGHT thanks babe <33


	8. save your tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this last chapter took so long i got burnt out and then christmas and new years happened !! :-)

The next morning starts loudly. 

As if anything could go quietly in any Hamato household, honestly. Or without any threats of murder.

“If you don’t put that airhorn - where’d the fuck you get that, by the way - away, I will literally rip your intestines out and use them as _napkins_!” Raph shouts, turning over and firmly planting his snout into the first horizontal surface he could find. Which happened to be Donnie’s _left foot_ . He cracks an eye open and immediately recoils. “Ew - Donnie, you _stink_ , when’s the last time you showered - _ay_ , ‘Tello - wake up, I’m talking to you - 

“Shut _up_ ‘Phael you should smell _yourself_ , you smell like...banana peels. And garbage.” Donnie grumbles, shoving his older brother’s front shell with his big toe. “This couch isn’t big enough for the two of us, I dunno how we both fell asleep here - 

“Yeah, it isn’t. Get off,” Raph nudges him half-heartedly, though his eyes are already sliding closed again, almost without his permission. “I’d like to get a bit more sleep before - 

The airhorn blares excruciatingly loudly, causing both Donnie and Raph to jump - as well as the entire room. “Okay, who the fuck did that,” Raph shouts, sitting up and scanning the room blearily. “I promise to make your death quick.”

“Oh no, I’m so _scared_ ,” Leon smirks, twirling his airhorn of terror around and around and _around_ on his dexterous fingers. “Do you know what time it is?”

Raph counts up to ten and back down to zero in his head. “Do I _need_ to?”

“It’s almost noon. We slept in.”

“You got a secret date with a secret boyfriend we don’t know about?” Donald grumbles from the floor. “What’s the problem?”

“Well, I’d just thought that we’d try to figure out the portal again - forgive me if I want our guests to return home happily and safely,” Leon turns his nose up at his twin. “Also I’m hungry. And the Mikey’s would prolly _kill_ me if I tried to cook by myself.”

Leo groans. “Okay, fine, we’re getting up. C’mon, Mike, big day today,” he shakes Mikey’s shoulder softly and chuckles when Mikey grumbles and tries to slap his hand away. “We’re going home today, aren’t you excited?”

“Five more minutes.” 

“No.”

“You’re a communist.”

-

Eventually they do all relocate to the kitchen, all sleepy conversations and smiles as everyone who can _actually_ cook - both Mikey’s, both Leo’s, and both April’s - prepare the twelve some late breakfast. Splinter is nowhere to be found, which Raphael found slightly concerning, but he figured his father would show up eventually. Food could bring that man to _anything_.

“You guys have tattoos? _Really_?” Donald’s asking his counterpart. Donnie nods, scooting away from the table and raising his left foot up onto the chair, exposing his ankle. On it was a small Hamato Clan symbol tattoo, expertly etched into the olive green skin with pure black ink. 

“We got them when we were up in space. They’re all the same - all in the same place. It was a solidarity thing, y’know. When we weren’t at each other's throats, when we had six months to literally travel through space and time to get the black hole generator pieces away from the Triceratons and - and save our Dad,” Donnie blinks slowly, taking a sip from his coffee mug. “S’ pretty funny, how fine everyone was with getting them - even if Mikey complained a bit.”

“ _I_ _heard that_ ,” Mikey shouts from the adjoining kitchen, and everyone at the table laughs. They’ve had to pull multiple chairs around it and squish together to make everyone fit, but Raphael kinda likes how they’re all so close. “I have a needle phobia,” the youngest of the other-dimension turtles explains, sticking his tongue out at all of them. “Still got the tat though, so suck it, Dee.” He jumps up on the counter and pulls his foot up, showing his ankle off.

“Yes, we know, you’re so cool. Get off the counter, Mike,” Leo pushes his shell lightly, and Mikey drops back to the tiled floor, sticking his tongue out at his oldest and grabbing the milk from the fridge. Raphael turns his attention back towards Donnie and decides to ask a question.

“So...tattoos? But...how’d you get them with...this whole situation?” Raphael gestures towards himself, and Donnie chuckles.

“They didn’t care that we were mutants at all, actually. For the first time ever we could go wherever we wanted without consequence. Y’know, restaurants, bars - yeah, they didn’t care what age we were, which was _terrifying_ , but Leo didn’t let us go in,” Donnie reassures them quickly as he takes in their horrified looks, “...movie theaters, etcetera. It was actually kinda weird, since we had this one mission where humans _weren’t_ allowed down on the planet - Case, d’you remember -

“All too well,” Casey mutters darkly, stirring his hot chocolate with the tail end of his spoon. “Racism, I tell you.”

“Humans collectively aren’t a - wait, maybe you’ve got - _no_ , wait, that doesn’t even make sense. Wouldn’t it be xenophobia?” Donnie asks. 

“Can you even _be_ xenophobic towards humans as a whole?” Donald’s thoughtful but deadpan, looking up from the mechanic that was adorning his wrist. “The world will literally never know, since they’re the superior species.”

“I _know_ , it’s so fuckin’ stupid,” Raph grumbles, taking a seat next to his counterpart. Raphael offers him a friendly beam, which Raph eventually returns - not nearly as wide or energetic ( _or_ as friendly), but it’s a good difference from the crazy ass demon he’d encountered nearly two days ago. Casey makes a strangled noise in his throat and Raph shrugs him off. “ _No_ , Casey, I don’t care if you’re my best friend, you’re a part of the human species and you suck.”

“You’re xeno - xenophobic,” Casey says, struggling only slightly with the word.

“And _you_ just want to be oppressed,” Raph counters.

“Oh, _God_ , here we go again.” Donnie sighs, taking a big gulp of coffee. When Raphael sends him a look of confusion he gestures at Raph and Casey in annoyance. “They do this _all the time_.”

“Imagine being both a mutant _and_ openly gay! Double whammy!” Leon interrupts rudely from the kitchen. “I’m the most oppressed here!” 

“First of all, it’s not a _competition_ , Leon. _Second_ of all - literally no one in this lair is straight and over half of the thirteen people inhabiting it currently are mutants. Not only are you wrong and I’m embarrassed to have you as a twin - which, admittedly, is really not a new occurrence - you’re supposed to be watching the stove go do that.” Donald snaps, smoothly ignoring Leon’s usual _i hate you deedee please die_ in favor of turning back to the table. “I actually can’t stand him.”

“Who, Leon?” Casey asks.

“ _No,_ Casey, the _president_ \- _yes_ , Leon.” Donald pauses. “Actually I can’t stand the president either...he might be the worst entity on this planet. Leon can come in second place.” 

“Leo must be so honored you think so highly of him,” Cassandra takes a seat on Donald’s free side, wiping at her eyes and yawning. “Christ, I’m tired. We didn’t even stay up late last night, did we?”

“I feel exhausted just _thinking_ about last night,” Raphael admits, scratching his neck sheepishly. “In more ways than one. Your brother...he always like that? Crazy mad and shit?” he asks the other-dimension brothers, watching as Donnie and Raph exchange contemplative glances.

“No,” Donnie answers carefully. “Mikey’s usually very...well, he’s laid-back. _Usually._ When we were younger he was bouncier and more energetic, kinda like the Mikey here. He never goes off on people like that, I can only think of two times that’s happened. One being last night, case in point.”

“And the other?”

“...” Donnie freezes, obviously wondering if he should divulge any more information. Finally he says, somewhat quieter: “Right before we were portalled here, actually.”

“...What? Mikey went off on _you_?” Casey sits up farther in his chair, interested. “What for?”

“Mostly ‘cause I was annoyed with him coming in unprovoked and interrupting my experiment,” Donnie shrugs. “Still didn’t excuse it, though. He was only coming in to get away from Leo and Raph.” 

“Right, I...shit, I threw my weapon at him,” Raph mutters miserably. “I don’t even remember why I was mad, looking back on it now.”

“I get like that, too,” Raphael reassures him. “Really angry. Guess it’s just something the Raph’s deal with? When it gets super bad I leave and go meditate; I started after everything with Gram-Gram happened and it really _helps_ , I swear. Mind feels less frazzled afterwards.”

“Yeah?” Raph asks. “Maybe Leo’s onto something with the whole meditation thing -

“Your Leo _meditates_?” Donald interrupts, staring at Raph with large eyes. Raph nods and Donald’s eyes get infinitely bigger. “Our Leo didn’t even show up for _training_ half the time before he became leader?”

“Wha - I thought Leo in _every_ dimension was notorious on meditation? Mikey’s the one who’s not serious about it back where we come from - 

“ - Oh, Mike’s not big on it either, he prefers cooking and his artistry, but seriously - _Leo_?”

“God our two Leo’s are so fucking different - 

“D’you wanna switch?”

“Switch brothers?” 

“Why not? We’re all the same anyway -

“Dee your sociopathic side is showing,” Raphael murmurs tiredly. Donald rolls his eyes at him.

“You guys do know that we’re standing... _right here_ , right?” Leo asks, exchanging an annoyed look with his counterpart. “Pretty rude of you.”

“Right? And we’re more alike than you think, babes,” Leon flaps a hand at the table before his eyes widen almost comically. Raphael _knows_ that fucking look and can almost _smell_ the goddamn trouble brewing. Donald and Raph were gonna _eat their words_. “Leo, love - 

“What is it, Leon?” Leo grins mischievously, and Raphael can almost prove Donald and Raph wrong right here with how _similar_ they look, despite Leon having maybe half a foot on the other-dimension leader. “Spit it out, don’t be shy?” 

“Can you grab the package from the next room for me, babe?” Leon asks, and Leo does as he’s told with a quiet chuckle, putting his spatula down and disappearing through the door the adjoined rooms offered. Before any of them can question Leon on what was happening, or what the _package_ was, Leo’s back - with a _guitar_.

“Oh my fucking God no _way,_ ” Mikey sets down his blender and leans against the island, eyes excitedly fixated on the piece of wood tenderly held by his oldest. “Leo, you’re actually gonna - 

“What - ‘Nardo Dad found that for you in the garbage _months_ ago and you were interested in it for a whole ten minutes please don’t tell me you magically know how to play?” Donald cups the side of his face in his hands and stares at his twin. All eyes are on Leon as he shrugs.

“I have no idea how to play, you’re right! But _he_ does,” Leon jabs a thumb towards his counterpart, who’s strumming and tuning. “You ready, Leo?” 

Oh god, ready for _what_?

“...Yeah, yeah I am,” Leo starts strumming softly, large dexterous fingers moving naturally over the strings like they were born too. What surprises Raphael even more, though, is the excitement that crosses his brother’s face when he starts to sing - and the fact that he recognizes the tune.

“Say that I’m crazy or call me a fool,” Leon starts, ignoring the incredulous gasping. Raphael’s never heard his brother sing - besides the crazy off-pitched wailing he usually did with Mike in the kitchen. But this was different, his vocals were smooth, silky. Exactly the voice you’d expect the face-man of the group to have. “But last night it seemed that I dreamed about you - 

“It’s _Coco_ ,” Donald hisses in incredulation. “He’s singing a _Disney_ song - 

“ _Shhh_ ,” Cassandra nudges him, eyes trained on Leon. 

“ - And you knew every word and we all sang _along_ ,” Leon glances towards Leo, who ups the beat a small bit, joining him in the next verse. 

“ - To a melody played on the strings of our souls -

“ - and a rhythm that rattled us down to the bone - 

“ - Our love for each other will live on forever - 

“ - in every beat of my proud corazón - 

“ - Our love for each other will live on forever -

They hesitate here, grinning first at eachother than at the gobsmacked group sitting at the table. “- in every beat of my proud corazón!”

Almost immediately Leo strums the guitar harder, upping the beat rapidly as Leon steps forward, away from the island, and sings, boldly, confident in a way Raphael’s never known: “Ay mi familia, oiga mi gente, canten al coro, _let it be known_ -

In _perfect_ Spanish. Looks like Leon’s been taking his Duolingo courses. “Our love for eachother will live on forever, in every beat of my proud corazón - 

April - Raphael’s April - starts clapping along, whooping, and Michael immediately joins her. Leon takes this as initiative enough and starts repeating the Spanish bit, locking eyes with everyone - oh, he looked at Casey a bit longer than normal, but the raven-haired boy doesn’t seem to mind much, jaw to the floor much like how Raphael internally felt. “ - canten al coro, let it be known -!” Leon and his counterpart knock shells together, back to back as they laugh, and Leo joins him for the last line of the song, still strumming the guitar with obvious practiced _perfection_.

And hell, even their _voices_ sound similar. 

“Our love for each other will live on forever, in every beat of my proud corazón!” They hold the endnote together, dragging it out for three, four, _five_ seconds, then Leo dramatically ends the strumming, his dark green hand flinging out away from the guitar like a rockstar would. They stumble away from each other to opposite sides of the kitchen, laughing like complete and utter maniacs. 

Raphael’s in _shock_. “ _What_ , the fuck,” he says quietly. Donald makes a strangled noise in his throat, obviously inclined to agree. Everyone else claps as the Leo’s make eccentric bows, then they turn to each other, grinning. 

“That was so good, oh my god? Y’know I’ve done these dimension travels loads of times and none of the Leo’s have a sense of _music_ , yeah? But you - 

“ _Bro_ \- we just - you just - this is legit America’s Got Talent potential -

“Fuck no? If we’re going anywhere it’ll be that one show - what’s it called - 

“X Factor?” 

“ _Yesss_ , isn’t there an American one of those?” 

“I think so? We’re so fucking _cool_ -

“Anyone gonna interrupt them and tell them the eggs are burning, or…” Donnie trails off, obviously unsuprised by the fucking _performance_ they’d all just endured. Mikey yelps and immediately tends to the eggs, switching off the burners. 

“Give them a sec, it’s nice seeing Leo so fuckin’ _happy_ ,” Raph sighs fondly, watching his brother beam as he enterjectically conversated with his counterpart. “Thought he gave up on the guitar thing, actually. S’ nice that he’s still just as good as he used to be. Didn’t he learn from you, Dee?” 

Donnie sighs in exasperation. “Fucker stole _my_ guitar to practice on. I coulda built him one, y’’know?”

“Wait, wait, wait, _wait_ , hold on, you guys _knew_ he could play? And - what, you can play too?” Donald asks his counterpart, shocked and - was that a tint of jealousy in his voice? Raphael hides his smile, listening for Donnie’s response. 

“Yeah, I - well, I saw some people play on MTV years back and built a guitar out of the old scraps of wood I’d find in the dumpster. Leo was interested in learning, so - well, we learnt together. It was our way of bonding, y’know, spending time together outside of training. He kinda stopped after Dad died, so...this was a surprise, actually.” Donnie’s tone of voice and his expression made it seem like it really _wasn’t_ a surprise, but - well. Raphael’s interested in that, truly, but he’s more interested in the fact that his fucking brother can _sing_ \- 

“No, no, because I _heard_ Leon yesterday and that bitch sounded like a _dying pterodactyl_ so how the hell is this kid speaking in perfect Spanish,” Casey downs the rest of his coffee. “Also why was he staring at me like that I felt like I was in the X-Files.”

“Oh Casey you’re so dense,” Donald says sympathetically. 

“The hell do you mean _Donatello_ \- 

“He likes yo- 

“Food is _ready_ my loves! We’ve got eggs, we've got bacon, we've got pancakes and we’ve got - Leo and Leo could you possibly do another song while we’re gathered around the lovely table all together?” Michael simpers, cupping his hands together and blinking innocently up at the two of them.

“No,” both Leo’s answer with a deadpan voice. “Never performing publicly for any of you again. Dee and their Raph wanna switch us because we’re interchangeable, apparently,” Leon flops down in an open chair, digging into his eggs. 

“We didn’t know you’d go all Senor Hueso on us, forgive me,” Donald rolls his eyes when all Leon does is flip him the bird. He digs into his food anyway, thanking the April’s and the Mikey’s but eyeballing his twin like he was _Lady Gaga_ or something. Raphael’s inclined to agree - his brother has never _ever_ _ever_ fuckin sang like that - 

Maybe Raphael didn’t know his brother as well as he thinks he does. That might be something to work on, once they’ve figured Draxum out and the other dimension turts go home. “So, uh…” he says intelligently when everyone’s all settled around the table and is digging in. “Is this the last time this is happening? Y’know, us, y’all - 

“Well... no, actually. Me n’ Dee’ve been talking about setting up a phone line - y’know, something I can put together or attach to their phones so we can communicate between the dimensions. It’s been more of a breeze with this one,” Donald jabs his thumb at his counterpart, who’s stuffing a bit of egg down quietly. “He’s created whole fields of math just to get out of situations in the past.”

“Yeah, that’s Donnie. Asshole is way too smart for his own good,” Casey says affectionately. Donnie launches a bean across the table at him. “Stop throwing beans at me you fucker I was _complimenting_ you -

“Are we already moving on from how Leo and Leon can fucking sing because we need to address that that was so bizzare - 

“Bruh I _know_ ,” Raphael’s April says. “How’d y’all set that up?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Leon says, winking mysteriously at Leo even though that’s the stupidest thing Raphael’s _ever_ heard Leon isn’t even a magician - 

“What level are you on Duolingo, Leo?” Michael giggles, and all eyes turn to the slider, who’s suddenly more interested in his food. He mumbles something that sounds like _uhmmtwentyuhhhfive_. “Good because I’m deleting your account.”

“Fuck you no you aren’t? Donnie’s already tried I changed my password like three times - stop looking at me like that Michael I _will_ commit fratricide - 

“So you’re gonna kill our siblings? I vote we kill Donnie.”

Donald splutters on his orange juice. “Hey hello what the _fuck_ -

“No I’m going to kill _you_ if you lay one little finger on my Duolingo account - 

“Jesus Christ I hate all of these people,” Raphael hears April - Other-April, murmur into her hands. Raphael’s April rubs her shoulders comfortingly. “I am _so_ tired of this shit please kill me.”

“It’s a ride through n’ through, babe,” Raphael’s April says, and Other-April groans louder as his siblings, of course, begin to bicker and descend into physical violence - because _of course_ they do. 

Raphael is going to invest in rocket launchers and _kill his family_. Nicely, of course. He’ll _nicely_ kill them.

Raph’s a nice guy.

“ _What is going on here_ ,” Comes another booming voice, and everyone shuts up, looking towards the rat in the door. Great. Fuckin’ _peachy_.

“Hey Dad!” Michael beams. “Eggs?”

-

“This was...fun, considering the circumstances,” Casey sighs, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing around the lab in obvious reluctance for the portal trip back home. Cassandra laughs, inwardly agreeing. These Other-Dimension people provided almost as much entertainment as her old job back with the Foot had been. “Seriously, Cass. You’re cool,” he continues, a bit awestruck. 

“You’re cool, too,” Cassandra admits, cause they’re the same fuckin’ person and she really _does_ think so, honestly. “The coolest. It really sucks you have to go, I was so lookin’ forward to beatin’ up crap.” 

“Yeah, same,” Casey says. “I dunno, hopefully Donnie figures some shit out and we can come back and forth between the two places? We could set some shit up or - 

“Yeah, yes of course!” Cassandra instantly agrees, brightening immediately. “I’ll bully them into setting up that interdimensional fuckin’ phone line or whatever they were rambling about earlier. Maybe we can...murder something or - 

“Girl, you’re reading my mind,” Casey says, holding his hand up for a fist bump, and Cassandra obliges, warmth rising in her stomach as she thanks her lucky stars on how _easy_ it was to be friends with her counterpart. He’s the coolest _ever,_ though she thinks she’s got maybe three-four years on him. 

“How old are you, again?”

“Eighteen,” Casey snickers. “You? And _why?_ ”

“Twenty-one,” Cassandra giggles. “And - Christ, Case, everyone’s noticed _but_ you? Leon’s got such a massive thing for you - 

“Oh my god shut _up_ no way?” Casey glances over at the slider, who almost immediately notices Casey looking and waves awkwardly. “Well. This is a thing that’s apparently happening. I. Am _literally_ so dense, cause - well, I have a thing for Leo - _my_ Leo,” he clarifies quietly. “So this is so - 

“Weird?” Cassandra asks, sporting a grin, and Casey nods frantically. “He’s just a kid with a crush, don’t worry too much about it, and - shit, really? I mean, he’s good with the guitar, who knows what else he’s good with - 

“ _Stopp!_ ” Casey _squeals,_ slapping her arm, and Cassandra cackles. After they’ve both calmed down a bit Casey opens his mouth, closes it, then opens his arms for a hug. “Uh..till we meet again? Take care of yourself, Cassie, I - wow. You feel like a sister at this point - 

Cassandra’s not usually too big on affection, but with Casey it’s different, more _real_ . And she didn’t know the next time she was gonna see him, so - “Yeah, Case. You, too. You better fuckin’ _call_ ,” she threatens throatily, taking the hug and resting her petite frame against his, leaning her head on his shoulder for an appropriate amount of time before slowly pulling away. “Promise?”

“I usually don’t _promise_ people shit, I - usually it’s good to let them down easily, but - yeah, promise. I promise,” Casey reaffirms steadily, and she takes that as answer enough. 

-

“Looks like we’ll be talking to each other a lot more, actually,” Raph comments offhandedly as he watches the Donnie’s converse in high-pitched gibberish that no one _but_ the Donnie’s could understand. Raphael makes a noise of agreement, and Raph looks over - _up_ to the kid. 

Being sixteen and _that_ tall should probably be illegal. 

“You remember what we’ve talked about, right?” Raphael murmurs, and Raph folds his arms and shoves away the violent need to get _defensive_ , say he _doesn’t need it,_ cause truth be told he really, really did - and nods jerkily. “Good. S’kay to have bad days, s’kay to get angry, just - just don’t let it control you. You hurt people when you do...n’ you just feel worse afterwards. Mediate, music, and work out - that’s what I do when shit gets hard and I wanna lash out.”

“...Yeah. Thanks,” Raph says quietly, thankful when Raphael doesn’t prod the subject any further. Before he can make another awkward stab at conversation both Mikey’s run up to them, beaming and as bright as the fucking sun, as always. 

“Leon caught you looking at his markings and told me to ask you if you’d like - if you’d like _these_ ,” Michael nods with his chin down to the bountiful spray paint bottles in his hands, all different colors and Raph _immediately_ sees the red and yearns to _do_ something with it, but...“Mike got a five minute demonstration on how to tag and he’s already _super_ good -

“Aw, quit it,” Mikey says modestly, but he’s grinning proudly anyway. “Think we can take em’, Raph? When we get back maybe we can do some of those cool markings - 

Raph hesitates, glancing back up at the snapping turtle, who’s watching the exchange with a knowing gleam in his eyes. “Yeah, uh. Sure, why not,” Raph shrugs, and the Mikey’s cheer. 

“You’re the best,” Mikey throws his arms around him, and Raph barely manages to get his arms around his youngest when he’s pulling away, knocking their foreheads together affectionately before turning and running off to who _knows_ where. “Gotta find a backpack to stuff em’ all in, don’t go home without me!” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Raph sighs tiredly, and Raphael laughs. Standing in Donald’s lab with all of them, Raph feels a bit better about - this, his family, _them._ “I...thank you,” he says quietly, avoiding eye contact with the snapping turtle. “You ever need a sparring partner, I'm only a dimension away,” he murmurs, catching Raphael’s earnest nod in his peripheral vision. 

Yeah, maybe they’d be alright.

-

“You’re so _lucky_ ,” Leon mutters, so quietly Leo almost misses it. Leo sends him a look, wondering what in the goddamn _world_ could this kid ever be jealous of. 

“Whaddayamean?”

Leon glances at him and then quickly looks away, his toes clenching on the marble floor. Leo raises an eyeridge, completely lost. After a prolonged, awkward beat of silence, Leon sighs in exasperation. “...Casey.”

 _Casey_. Leo’s eyes widened. “What about him?”

“I...okay, we’re the same person, right? Kinda-ish-sorta? So I can ask...have you ever - y’know - thought of him like - 

Leo swallows. They were _not_ having this conversation. Nope nada zilch. “You mean like - uh - _like_ like - 

“Yes…?” Leon asks reluctantly. Leo hesitates a beat, wondering if he could - if he _should_ say anything. They were going home in a few minutes anyway, it didn’t really matter - _no_ , but discussing and thinking about his sexuality and shit like that was like stabbing a Foot bot in the dark, he’d _never_ \- but they were the _same person_ , wouldn’t he understand - 

“I’m gonna take your panicked silence as a yes,” Leon says with a sad smile. “Me too, y’know? It’s hard to find people to have crushes on n’ shit when you’re a mutant ninja turtle and most of your friends are girls,” he gives a bit of a self-deprecating laugh, looking away awkwardly. “So I saw him and - and I just - 

“Hey, hey, cool it, you don’t need to - you don’t needa explain anything to me, Leo,” Leo says gently, raising a hand placatingly. “It’s cool, I get it. Finding people is... _hard_ , yeah? But you’ll do it, I believe in you! You just have to wait and you’ll find the right guy. Trust the process,” he glances over to Casey as he says so, burying down that stupid goddamn emotion he felt every time he saw the raven-haired. Fuck, Casey was infuriating. 

“I, yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” Leon mumbles, glancing up from the fingers he was twisting together absently. “You’ve gotta do it, then.”

Leo looks back over at him. “Do what?”

“Get with him,” Leon says. “If I can’t then you _have_ to.”

“Wha - _I can’t just_ \- what if he doesn’t - you - I - 

“Hey, cool it, he _definitely_ likes you! Why wouldn’t he? We’re _irresistible,_ Leo,” Leon says wistfully, clamping an arm around Leo’s shoulder. “Me slightly more so, but it doesn’t matter much! Don’t argue with me on this, and don’t pull that shit straight people usually do, either. I dunno _what_ sexuality you are but you aren’t straight. You're not mentally stable, either. Go team.”

“Gee, thanks,” Leo glares. “I’m _queer_ , yeah. I just don’t go by a label. I just say fuck it and go for whoever.”

“Right, like your sister?” Leon laughs, then immediately sobers at the look on Leo’s face. “Yeah, too far. Sorry. But I’m serious, though - you like him, I’d give anything to say he likes you, too. And if I can’t have him, because, to be fair, he’s prolly too old for me -

“He’s eighteen,” Leo says, wincing. Leon was fifteen, wasn’t he? Call the FBI, Christ.

“Right. And you’re seventeen. So go for it. Remember what we talked about? Getting your shit together?”

“I didn’t know you giving me relationship advice would be part of that package,” Leo folds his arms at the slider. “Fine. If I’m up to it, I - I guess I’ll see if I can at least tell him. I dunno if he feels the same -

“Even if he doesn’t, you getting it off your chest is totes worth it!” Leon says with a million-watt beam, and Leo sees the hidden maturity in those eyes and softens, smiling back.

“Thank you, Leon. And - when the Donnie’s get the phone line sorted - text me, yeah? It’s nice having another Leo to talk to, ‘specially since the other dimension Leo’s are just so _annoying_.”

“You’ve still gotta tell me about that! How many versions of us _are_ there? And are they all as good looking as us? And…” Leon trails off, moving his hands around energetically as he talks, and Leo thinks quietly about how grateful he was that they’d been portalled here. 

-

“Interdimensional phone line?”

“Interdimensional phone line.”

“You, Donatello, are a genius,” Donald high-threes his brilliant counterpart and ignores the disappointment rising in his chest. “I, surprisingly, don’t want your group to go. Not yet, really.”

“Yeah, same,” Donnie sighs regretfully. “Casey and April have families to get back too, though, and we’ve got pets we’ve gotta feed, but - god, this was the most fun I think I’ve ever had.” 

“So true,” Donald agrees. “We’ve just...dunno, gotta meet up again soon. Maybe next time we’ll pop over there?”

“Potential sequel idea, I like it and I’ll take it,” Donnie grins, crossing his arms. “You watch out, okay? For Draxum? I know he switched up to join you during the fight against the Shredder but Mikey’s got a great read on people. You be careful around him, okay?”

Donald dips his head in acknowledgement. “Remember what I said yesterday, too. About improving your family life - the relationship with your brothers. I don’t want you guys tearing eachother apart before we finally get to beat things up as a small army.”

Donnie laughs, genuinely - Donald doesn’t know the actual _word_ he’d use - but _emotion_ palpated off the older teen in waves. So different from the closed up version he’d met days before. Maybe there was hope for them yet. Smiling softly at that thought, he nearly misses the Leo’s sliding up to them, both braced for their next move.

It was time.

“You’ve got everything, then?” Leo mutters to Donnie, and Donald’s counterpart nods while Leon plants himself firmly down next to his twin. _You good?_ He signs, and Donald rolls his eyes fondly at his brother.

_Never better, Fearless._

_Don’t get snappy with me, DeeDee._

_Literally die? You’ve gotta tell me where you learned to sing, by the way. That. Was. Insane._

_Yeah? Well, uh. Their Donnie and their Leo used music to cope with their trauma, right? I overheard that bit at breakfast. If you want -_

_The Donnie’s and the Leo’s of every dimension are...probles...the most musically talented -_

_Oh, so true._ Leon flashes him a winning smile. _How’d you even manage to sign probles?_

“Are you guys using _sign language_?” Donnie hisses disbelievingly, and Donald’s just able to give him a quick nod before Leo claps, getting the room’s attention. 

“Okay, uh. I’m out of my element, here, but. The Donnie’s about to switch the portal on. We’re going home,” Leo announces. Then he hesitates, surveying the room. “We came here on weird terms, but - _I’ve_ learned a lot. I think we all have. This was - fuck, _yeah_ , it was worth it. I hope we can meet up again, soon. Really soon,” he finishes, and is met with energetic nods and whoops of agreement from the Casey’s. And the April’s. “Okay, I’m done. That was my one inspiring speech of the day. Let’s go home,” he does a one-eighty and stares determinedly at the portal. Donald laughs at that and takes his place by his computer, readying himself to hit the buttons that would start the tech up again. He can sense Leon follow him, for once completely speechless.

After more yelled goodbyes, another hug between the April’s, a yelled ‘Wait!’ as Donald’s youngest runs up and hands their Mikey a folded piece of paper, murmuring something about it bringing good luck, Donald sighs, exchanging a final glance with his own counterpart. “You have the tech-bo schematics, right?” he inquires. He’d slipped something else in there, something he’d hoped the older genius would discover.

“Yeah, I do,” Donnie nods quickly.

“Just making sure,” Donald says, and slams the button to open the portal. 

Pandemonium would be the only word to describe it. While he's thought beforehand this time and removed all the loose papers and objects from around the lab to store them safely, wind still furiously whipped through the room and through their mask tails, causing Donald to blink rapidly. Leon places a hand on his twin’s shoulder and they both watch as their newest friends, their counterparts, _themselves_ , disappear through the portal for good. 

When they’re gone, all six of them, Donald immediately smashes the button again, and the portal stutters to a halt, the pink light dissipating in the wake of their disappearance. “Fuck,” is all he says, falling back into his desk chair. Leon makes a wordless, tired sound of agreement.

-

Donnie thought it’d be a mini-quest in itself to get back home, really. Slave through Dimension X, maybe chip off a few months of their life while they were at it. He certainly didn’t expect to slam shell-first down in the living room of his own lair, groaning blearily as he blinked up at the quickly fading pink light of the portal. He can hear answering groans from his own family, though, and he pulls himself slowly to a sitting position, rubbing at his bruised elbows.

“Everyone okay?” Leo asks, and everyone gives tired murmurs of assent. They sit there, quiet for a second, until Leo rubs his own head softly. “...What do we do now?” 

“Well. It’s still early, me n’ Case can get away with a few more hours before we go home?” April exchanges a side glance with Casey, who nods in agreement. “Why don’t we freshen up and put a movie on?” 

Donnie’s breath catches in his throat. A movie? They haven’t done something like that since before Splinter - 

Raph’s nodding thoughtfully. “That would be great, actually, as long as I get the bean bag -

“Oh, fuck you, that bean bag’s mine!” Mikey laughs, clearly about to lunge for it, but Raph’s quick to grab his wrist.

“You’ve gotta feed Ice Cream Kitty and I’ve gotta feed Chompy, so -

“May the best man win,” Mikey agrees and immediately he’s off in the direction of the kitchen. Cursing, Raph takes the step up and disappears into the hallway, most likely searching for his beloved pet. Leo rolls his eyes at their antics. 

“I’ve gotta put this away, but...meet back here in three?” Donnie stands gingerly, and is met with encouraging nods and tired smiles from the remaining trio. Stepping out of the pit, he makes his way to his lab, sliding the door open and staring at his lab.

So different from his counterparts, but...examining it, Donnie can see the uncanny similarities. Shaking his head slightly, he crosses the threshold and the room to his desk, pulling out the schematics Donald’s given him as he walks. All in expert detail, sketched in perfectly and would probably rival his youngest brother. Nothing surprising there, schematics usually were in top-notch quality, but - 

There was another paper folded in with it, this one folded gingerly in a square. Donnie reaches the desk and sets the schematic down, grabbing for the smaller paper and unfolding it carefully. He glances over the contents of the paper, eyeridges furrowing in confusion. “...Shelldon?” he mutters quietly. “What...?”

“Donnie! We’re gonna find something to watch, get out here!” Casey yells from the living room, and Donnie shakes his head again, breaking out of his little spell. He sets the paper down on top of the tech-bo schematic, promising himself to look into it further later, and quickly hurries back towards the wake of his lab.

Raph and Mikey have opted to share the bean bag, both keeping a careful eye on their respective pets, and Leo, Casey, and April have all spread out around the pit floor, eyes trained to the television as Casey scrolls through the channels mindlessly. Donnie looks around at the five of them fondly, realizes there isn’t a single place he’d rather be.

Closing his lab door behind him, Donnie joins his family. 

-

-

-

_bootyshaker9000 has made a groupchat!_

_bootyshaker9000 added neon-leon, michaelsplinterson, raphael, apes, cassiejones, fearless leader sad face, mikey is sexy as hell, white april lol, raph smirk emoji, donatello period, and casey jones best man on earth to the chat!_

_bootyshaker9000: hey...is this thing working?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey :-)
> 
> first of all happy new years!! 2021 bitches who else is excited!!!
> 
> honestly i have no words this is the biggest any of my fics have ever gotten and the support and nice comments i got every chapter make me so happy to read through...yall are so supportive and it makes me so happy :,) m so grateful fr
> 
> i. i've gotta be honest here. i come from a really broken family, so the line in chapter two where 2k12 donnie's like 'we're just people sharing a home at this point' i can honestly perfectly relate too. watching tmnt (esp 2012) and their family dynamics and then being thrust into rise and the unconditional love and fucking SUPPORT just hits me so hard and me making this crossover was sort of like a 'fix-it' in a way. for the 2012 boys, mostly,
> 
> but for me, too.
> 
> so, honestly, thank you for reading this fic. bless yall i really hope yall have the best year ever


	9. SEQUEL :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lol

HI yall were so kind and i got a lot of people asking if i was gonna make a sequel so. you know what ask and you shall receive! i indeed am currently working on a sequel :)

it's called no more sad songs (im begging please don't play) and. it'll have chatfic elements IN it but it won't really be a chatfic if u get what im saying ;) just press the lil button on the bottom that'll take u to the next fic in the series or here's the link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29046798

i hope y'all like it <3


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